AIT IS A MEMBER OF THE AUSTRIAN PLATFORM FOR HUMAN BIOMONITORING
New EU projects open up for the Center for Health & Bioresources
The Austrian platform for human biomonitoring was founded in 2007 and since 2016 the platform has been acting as an advisory body to the Minister of the Environment on issues related to human biomonitoring and the hazard and risks posed by exposure to chemicals. AIT is an enlisted member since October 2021.
The BMK (Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology) has invited the AIT Center Health & Bioresources to participate in the platform, which is represented by Principal Scientist Winfried Neuhaus from the Competence Unit Molecular Diagnostics. Through the connection to the Federal Environment Agency via the platform, the unit could participate in the proposal and co-submit for the EU PARC project call.
PARC (European partnership for the assessment of risks from chemicals) is the continuation of HBM4EU and an EU-wide effort with a budget of approximately €200 million. In addition to the joint submission of international projects, a wide variety of topics are currently being discussed in which the center could contribute, such as the effects of microplastics on human health or the analysis of samples collected in epidemiological biomonitoring studies.
THE AUSTRIAN PLATFORM FOR HUMAN BIOMONITORING
The platform aims to promote human biomonitoring in Austria as a tool for health and environmental protection, to improve risk assessment of chemicals, to support national prevention strategies and to develop national competence in human biomonitoring. The platform also aims to contribute to the implementation of environmental epidemiological studies and the identification of health-relevant environmental factors through human biomonitoring.
The immediate goals of the platform are to promote communication and cooperation at federal and state level. This is to be achieved through networking at the administrative, care and scientific levels for the optimal use of resources as well as environmental and health agendas.
The implementation of national, European and international agreements and strategies (such as Health Targets Austria, Microplastic Action Plan, European Green Deal initiatives (including the European Sustainability Strategy for Chemicals for a more sustainable and pollution-free environment), European Environmental Health Process, Stockholm Convention, UN Sustainable Development Goals) shall be supported.
Planning of research activities on a broad basis as well as the use of synergies from European and international research funding, networks and initiatives will be supported.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
The current mission statement is already available on the internet:
https://www.umweltbundesamt.at/fileadmin/site/ueberuns/mission_statement_hbm-pl.pdf