Biomonitoring

In the 2010 Parma Declaration on Environment and Health, WHO European Region Member States committed to developing human biomonitoring programmes as a complement to environmental measurements, in order to better understand and prevent the health effects of environmental degradation. The European Environment and Health Action Plan 2004–2010 had already recognised biomonitoring as a monitoring tool and called for a consistent European methodology to ensure data comparability. Since then, many European countries have developed national or regional biomonitoring programmes.

Under the European strategy for a non-toxic environment of the 7th Environment Action Programme, the HBM4EU programme (2017–2021) aimed to harmonise and improve the quality of human biomonitoring studies carried out across Europe, so that their findings could support policy decisions to reduce citizens’ exposure to chemicals and the associated health effects.

Following HBM4EU, the European PARC project (2022–2029) has supported human biomonitoring to produce harmonised data across Europe for children, adolescents and adults.

What about Wallonia?

In Wallonia, several human biomonitoring studies have been conducted since 2005. Until 2019, these studies focused on local situations, providing data covering only part of the Walloon population. It was therefore necessary to establish reference values for the Walloon population as a whole. This work began in 2019 with the creation of a scientific consortium and the launch of the first phase of the Walloon human biomonitoring programme. The programme, called BMH-WAL, brings together ISSeP, the Clinical Toxicology Department of CHU Liège, the Louvain Center for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology at UCLouvain, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc and Sciensano. Its aim is to determine the levels of exposure of the Walloon population to various chemicals present in the environment.

To protect the confidentiality of data collected during human biomonitoring studies, ISSeP undertakes to pseudonymise all collected data, including biomarker results and questionnaire data. Each volunteer is assigned a unique, randomly generated alphanumeric code.

Only the project managers know and have access to identifying information, which is necessary to provide individual results (if participants request them). This confidential and sensitive information is stored in a dedicated file protected by a security key (the code used to unlock the key is kept separately from the sensitive file) and backed up in a secure folder on ISSeP’s network.

The Data Protection Officer (DPO), who is responsible for GDPR compliance at ISSeP, also has access to the location of the file and security key to prevent data loss if the person or persons responsible for the study leave ISSeP.

Human biomonitoring studies are coordinated by the biomonitoring team in ISSeP’s Environment and Health Unit.

These projects are made possible through extensive collaboration with university laboratories, academic researchers, research institutes and public authorities.

A scientific committee and a steering committee are also established for each project to provide scientific and administrative support to ISSeP.

BMH-WAL consortium

As BMH-WAL is intended to be a recurring programme, a consortium has been established. The teams making up the consortium are:

• Environment and Health Unit, ISSeP, Liège, consortium coordinator
• University Hospital Department of Clinical, Forensic, Environmental and Occupational Toxicology, CHU Liège, Liège
• Trace Elements and Nanomaterials Unit, Sciensano, Brussels
• Department of Clinical Laboratories, Analytical Biochemistry Laboratory, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, UCLouvain, Brussels
• Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI) and Louvain Center for Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology (LTAP), UCLouvain, Brussels

Selected press articles on ISSeP human biomonitoring studies:

• 6 November 2025, Le Soir, PFAS: confirmed overexposure of the population in the Hainaut feeder area
• 4 June 2025, RTBF, PFAS pollution: a new biomonitoring study is under way in several Walloon municipalities
• 25 March 2025, L’Avenir, 2,700 volunteers sought in Walloon Brabant and Hainaut for a PFAS biomonitoring study
• 19 February 2025, Moustique, People in Wallonia are exposed to these 52 pollutants, not just PFAS
• 19 February 2025, RTBF, How many chemical pollutants are found in the bodies of people in Wallonia? Results for ages 40–59
• 22 April 2024, RTBF, Walloon metal shredders: results of the study on nearby residents’ exposure to pollutants released
• 11 January 2023, SudInfo, BIOSOL: call for volunteers in Belgian Lorraine and assessment of children’s exposure to heavy metals in soil
• 9 January 2023, L’Avenir, Study of heavy metals in children’s urine: ISSeP seeks volunteers
• 29 March 2022, SudInfo, Metal shredder: Beez residents invited to participate in a biomonitoring study
• 4 October 2021, SudInfo, Banned pollutants detected in the blood of people in Wallonia
• 4 October 2021, L’Écho, Lead found in the blood of all Walloons
• 17 January 2020, Le Soir, Health of the Walloon population under close scrutiny
• 17 January 2020, RTBF, Launch of the first human biomonitoring campaign with 900 volunteers
• 17 January 2020, RTBF, Which hazardous substances are people in Wallonia absorbing?

For further information before, during or after a study, please contact the project team:

Team: Ingrid Ruthy, Aline Jacques, Eric Gismondi, Dima Lejeune, Alexandra Leclercq

Phone: 04 229 83 83

Email: biomonitoring@issep.be

Website: www.issep.be/biomonitoring

Address: ISSeP – 200 Rue du Chéra, 4000 Liège