Bio: Dr. Hans Sanderson is a senior scientist at Aarhus University (AU) in Denmark. His research activities focus on chemical risk assessment and prioritization. He background is in environmental ecotoxicology and sustainability assessments. He has conducted several public health risk screening analyses of contaminated sites as well as assessment of chemicals human safety profile. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) in Washington DC. He is co-chair of the international online Master’s Programme in Chemicals Risk Assessment and Management – a collaborative Programme between AU and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada where he is also adjunct professor. Aarhus University is a member of the WHO Chemicals Risk Assessment Network.

Abstract: Exposure to hazardous chemicals can cause adverse effects in humans and the environment. In response to a large number of chemicals potentially emitted to the environment and costly monitoring programmes, prioritization schemes have been developed to identify candidate substances for further investigation, based on their hazard, exposure and environmental occurrence. Here we present a prioritization scheme with five filters: persistence/bioaccumulation /toxicity (PBT), human and environmental hazard, exposure, tonnage, and monitoring, applied to an initial list of 1528 chemicals previously identified as potentially problematic in Europe. Based on data on use and detection efforts in the Nordic countries and using a scoring system including scores for data gaps a final list of 16 chemicals was reached. In addition, this approach was adapted to all 1026 prescription active pharmaceutical ingredients used in Denmark in 2021 which were ranked relative to their overall risk profile. I will present the methods and findings of the two studies and discuss how these can be transferred to other countries in support of the WHO Chemical Risk Assessment Network efforts in developing a decision-making framework to help strengthen country capacity to prioritize chemicals of greatest risk to human health.

References:

1. Semi-quantitative risk-based prioritization scheme for chemicals of concern in the Nordic countries. Sanderson, H., Fauser, P., Bengtström, L. I. & Vorkamp, K., (2024). RSC Sustainability. 2, (2), p. 558-566 9 p.

2. Risk-based prioritization of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Danish surface waters for future monitoring. Sanderson, H., Bengtström, L. I., Nanusha, M. Y., Bester, K., Carvalho, P. N., Fauser, P., Hansen, M. & Lassen, P., (2024). Aarhus University, DCE - Danish Centre for Environment and Energy. 120 p. Scientific report from DCE; No. 601).