Evaluation of Pesticide Exposure in the General Population: Use of Spatial, Environmental, Toxicological and Biological Approaches

An association has been suggested with several diseases including cancer and IARC has classified several pesticides as carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic. There is a need for a better characterisation of environmental pesticides exposures and identification of suitable biomarkers of exposure and effect. A better understanding of the impact of pesticide exposure on metabolomic, transcriptomic and epigenetic changes, is essential to strengthen epidemiological hypotheses on the association with several cancer types.

The main objective of the project is to validate a GIS (geographic information system) based method to assess environmental pesticide exposures, using environmental (contamination of housedust) and biological (blood and urine samples) measures. The project aims further to investigate a potential link between housedust contamination and biological measures in healthy non-smoking male residents and explore the impact of environmental pesticide exposure on metabolomics, transcriptomic and epigenetic parameters.