The establishment of the Human Biomonitoring Platform Austria (HBM Platform) has created a new national structure to coordinate and advance the monitoring of environmentally induced pollutant exposure in the population. The platform reports directly to the Austrian Parliament. The AIT Center for Health and Bioresources, represented by Principal Scientist Prof. Winfried Neuhaus, is involved in the platform as a scientific implementation partner.
Human biomonitoring (HBM) focuses on detecting pollutants or their metabolites in the human body and provides a crucial basis for evaluating the actual exposure of population groups to environmental chemicals. The Austrian HBM Platform aims to consolidate existing national activities, further develop methodological approaches, and embed them within the European context. The platform was initiated by Austria’s environmental administration and established by the Environment Agency Austria. Its implementation takes place in cooperation with institutions from research, public administration, and public health. The 2024 annual report is currently being discussed in the National Council’s Environment Committee.
AIT contributes scientific expertise in environmental and health research
As part of the project consortium, AIT – represented by Prof. Winfried Neuhaus – contributes its expertise in environmental health and the analysis of complex exposure data to the platform. The focus lies particularly on methodological support for data evaluation and on developing transparent and comprehensible assessment frameworks. “The challenge is not only to detect pollutants in the human body, but to interpret the results accurately in a context that is relevant to both health and policy. This is precisely where our contributions to data validation, evaluation models and methodological harmonisation come in,” explains Prof. Winfried Neuhaus, Principal Scientist at the Competence Unit Molecular Diagnostics at the AIT Center for Health and Bioresources. Currently, the AIT team is working on the evaluation of nanoplastic particles and plastic additives and their potential neurotoxic effects using cell culture models.
Anchored in the European research landscape
A key objective of the HBM Platform is to establish a national interface connecting research, administration, and policy, while ensuring interoperability with European initiatives. The platform maintains close collaboration with international programmes such as EIRENE and PARC (Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals). Through its scientific involvement, AIT contributes to aligning Austrian biomonitoring activities with European standards and strengthening the national data basis for evidence-based environmental and health policy.
https://www.umweltbundesamt.at/
https://www.umweltbundesamt.at/ueber-uns/partnernetzwerke/hbm-plattform
https://www.bmk.gv.at/themen/klima_umwelt/chemiepolitik/publikationen/biomonitoring.html