DEMOCOPHES

Demonstration of a study to Coordinate and Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale

 

DEMOCOPHES is a human biomonitoring pilot study involving 16 countries in Europe. The purpose of the DEMOCOPHES study is to determine levels of key environmental pollutants in people across Europe, including members of the UK population. 

The consortium to perform human biomonitoring on a European Scale (COPHES) has produced a standard way to perform a human biomonitoring study and DEMOCOPHES is a pilot study to demonstrate this work by measuring the concentrations of cadmium, mercury, phthalates and cotinine in the general public.

UK study

The UK part of this study is being run by the Health Protection Agency. For this study permission was requested from a National Research Ethics Committee (an independent group of people formed to protect your interests).This study was approved by the London Riverside South West Research Ethics Committee (Reference 11/LO/1383).

Taking part in this study will help to build a picture of the levels of environmental pollutants in people, and to develop a way in which human biomonitoring studies can, in the future, be used for the benefit of the UK and European populations. 

What is human biomonitoring?

Human biomonitoring (HBM) is an effective tool to assess human exposure to environmental substances and in some cases their potential health risks. 

People are exposed to many natural and man-made substances every day. Biomonitoring allows us to measure the concentration of these substances in human fluids or tissues (for example in blood, urine or hair).  This information provides a picture of the substance actually absorbed into the body. Exposure does not necessarily result in ill health but it is important to understand how people are exposed and to what extent.  HBM can help us introduce appropriate interventions to reduce exposure and make important policy decisions. 

If you would like to read more about this visit the human biomonitoring pages.

Who can take part?

We are now starting to recruit participants in Gloucestershire

We are inviting mothers aged less than 45 years old and children aged 6 to 11 years old to take part in this study. Study participants will be randomly selected from London to represent an urban area and Gloucestershire to represent a more rural area.

What substances will be measured?

Cadmium, mercury, phthalates and cotinine will be measured

Cadmium is a naturally occurring metal; it is used in batteries and in some paints.  Cadmium can be found as a contaminant in some shellfish and in cigarette smoke. 
Mercury is also a natural metal, it is a contaminant found in seafood and is used in small quantities in dental fillings, energy saving light bulbs and was in the past used in thermometers. Phthalates are a group of compounds widely used in the manufacture of plastics. Because of this extensive use we are exposed to many phthalates. Nicotine when inhaled through cigarette smoke is metabolised to cotinine.  Cotinine levels in urine are a marker of how much cigarette smoke someone has been exposed to. 

What will be involved?

Taking part in DEMOCOPHES will involve participants in:

 An interview at local study centre to answer some simple questions, and to give small samples of urine and hair.The interviewer will take the morning urine samples that the mother and child have provided and cut a small tuft of hair near the scalp of the mother and her child (don't worry; it will not be possible to see where the hair has been cut). Then the mother will be asked a few questions. The questions concern personal data, living conditions, food intake, workplace and possible contact with chemical substances. For example, we will ask questions about the food that the mother and her child have eaten in the last four weeks as well how often they use shampoo, fragrances etc.

 

Further Information 

More details on what is involved in the study can be found in the following documents.

Information Leaflet (PDF, 1.1 MB)

Information Leaflet for children (PDF, 1.4 MB)

You can find out which countries are involved in DEMOCOPHES and COPHES and further information by visiting the European website.

 

Media

 Press release November 2011

 

Funding

DEMOCOPHES is funded by the LIFE+ "Policy and governance" programme of the European Community, Grant agreement LIFE09/ENV/BE/000410 and the Health Protection Agency.

 

 

Last reviewed: 12 January 2012