State General Laboratory Annual Report 2019

41 State General laboratory Annual Report 2019 Environment and Health According to the World Health Organization (WHO), many diseases are associated with human exposure to en- vironmental factors, such as toxic chemicals in the food chain, the environment and consumer products. These diseases are often chronic (e.g. cancer, allergies, asthma, neuro-developmental abnormalities, disorders of the reproductive system) and influence healthy ageing. In addition, the fiscal constraints of the European coun- tries, socioeconomic inequalities, gender inequalities, extreme climatic events, the increase of non-communi- cable diseases, the ageing of the population and the unprecedented migration between and within countries, exacerbate these factors. There is therefore an urgent need to continue and strengthen efforts to address environmental factors that affect health. Recognising that the study of the relationship between environment and health can lead to better public health policy and the prevention of diseases, the SGL implemented several actions in response to commitments arising from European, international and national strategies and action plans, as well as from other national priorities. More specifically the SGL:  From 2004 to 2016, has been actively involved in five research programmes related to "Environment and Health" with funding from: the 6 th and 7 th EU Framework Programmes for Research (ESBIO, COPHES), the EU’s Life + programme (DEMOCOPHES), the SINPHONIE programme of DG SANTE, the Research Promotion Foundation programme (Homes and Tobacco Free Vehicles), and the Cyprus Ministry of Health (Biomonitoring Programme for Young Children’s Exposure to Cigarette Tobacco).  From 2017, participates and coordinates at national level the European Joint Research Programme on "Human Biomonitoring for Europe (HBM4EU)" (2017-2021), co-funded by "Horizon 2020" and the 28 participating countries. The main aim of the HBM4EU initiative is to coordinate and advance human biomonitoring in Europe and provide better evidence of the actual exposure of citizens to chemicals and the possible health effects to support policymaking.  Furthermore, in 2019 the SGL:  as the "Chemical Group Leader" for mercury and its organic compounds (=2nd round priority substances) of the HBM4EU, contributed to the creation of a sustainable framework for European Biomonitoring and to the investigation of the correlations between chemical exposure and human health effects. This work resulted in a series of deliverables, tools and scientific announcements, developed for the needs of specialised stakeholders (policy makers, scientists, citizens who voluntarily participate in human biomonitoring research, the general public),  participated in the Steering Group for the development of a new "European Partnership for Chemical Risk Assessment", under the upcoming new seven years’ European research project "Horizon Europe", which is expected to start in 2022, and  continued the coordination, at national level, of the implementation of the "Ostrava Declaration (2017)" on the Environmental Impact on Health.