Basisdaten zur Beschreibung gesundheitsrelevanter Umweltbelastungen der Menschen in Deutschland

Abstract

People are exposed to various environmental pollutants which may cause acute or chronic health effects. Examples of these environmental stressors are noise or pollutants in the air, water or food. In general, the environmental exposure can be quantified by two main approaches: human bio monitoring (HBM) and exposure modeling. HBM and exposure modeling complement each other. In many cases only their combination is able to convey a conclusive picture of the extent and causes of a health-relevant environmental exposure. Because of this, the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) uses both approaches for quantifying and assessing the population’s exposure to environmental pollutants that may cause health constraints. Moreover, the UBA provides extensive HBM results and standardized data for exposure modeling to the scientific community.