Þórhallur Ingi Halldórsson, Professor in nutrition at the University of Iceland, and his colleagues at the University and Matís (Icelandic Food and Biotech R&D), have received a 600 thousand Euros research grant from the European Union. The project is to establish coordinated procedures in monitoring pollutants and contaminants in people in Europe. The grant is from Horizon 2020 The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, from Health, demographic change and well-being. Thirty seven institutes besides the Icelandic one take part in the project as well as numerous affiliated institutes, but the total grant for this project as a whole is 50 million Euros.
The idea is to better share research infrastructure to monitor the effect of these chemicals on people's health. The work procedures in monitoring pollutants and contaminants in people are currently as many as the number of states within the European Union, both regarding how subjects are chosen for research, and what research methods are used. Therefore, it is very difficult to compare measurements of pollution strength in biopsies from one country to the next. This arrangement results in poor use of funding, making control and intervention difficult and slow.
Þórhallur Ingi says it is impractical that the almost 30 nations currently performing supervision measurements and research do so differently, and thus the need to coordinate the methods used arises. The project is precisely about such coordination. Measurements on pollutants and contaminants in people are vital, e.g. to map the negative impact of the environment on people. This involves studying the impact of industrial production, building materials in houses and food on humans.
The social importance of this kind of research is undisputed as it is directly related to people's health, and can reduce the increasing cost of nations' healthcare systems. "The project provides Icelanders with the opportunity to better organize ourselves in this field and hopefully put more effort into measurements and research of this type," says Þórhallur Ingi. Part of the grant money is pre-designed for special projects, but some of the funds will be used to establish the necessary infrastructure and take biopsies of chemicals that must be better monitored. The aim is to implement a systematic control system in collaboration with other nations and to strengthen research in this field even further.
Þórhallur Ingi says that institutes such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) rely greatly on research on the impact of pollution and contaminants in the environment; these institutes are responsible for risk assessment and regulations in the use of chemicals in industry and food production.
Þórhallur's research team is comprised of Kristín Ólafsdóttir, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, and Hrönn Jörundsdóttir, Specialist at Matís. Þórhallur Ingi has been very prolific when it comes to research in nutrition in the past, but his research has mainly focused on medical effect of pollutants and supplements, such as persistent organic pollutants, trans fatty acids and artificial sweeteners in food.