1 May 2024
How harmful are chemicals? The Dutch Health Council wants more insight into the health effects of exposure
What exactly do chemicals do to your health? The Dutch Health Council has advised that people's exposure to chemicals should be measured through blood and urine samples. Molecular epidemiologist Jelle Vlaanderen of Utrecht University is “very positive” about the Health Council's advice. “Right now there is nothing to map chemical exposures in the Netherlands. There is a big gap in our knowledge. Huge amounts of chemicals are produced, but we don't know in what concentrations people are exposed to them. And whether there are certain vulnerable groups that have higher exposures to chemicals.” *
*article in Dutch
The environment we live in has a dominant impact on our health. It explains an estimated seventy percent of the chronic disease burden. Where we live, what we eat, how much we exercise, the air we breathe and whom we associate with; all of these environmental factors play a role. The combination of these factors over the life course is called the exposome. There is general (scientific) consensus that understanding more about the exposome will help explain the current burden of disease and that it provides entry points for prevention and ...
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