Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu

The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) performs tasks to promote both public health and a healthy and safe living environment. The main tasks of RIVM are: 1) to conduct research; 2) to provide policy support; 3) to perform national coordination; 4) to coordinate intervention programs; 5) to provide information on public health and environmental safety issues to professionals and to the general public. Our knowledge is used to support the Dutch government in formulating its policy. RIVM’s commissioning bodies consist of ministries (the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries) and various public services such as the inspectorates. RIVM also carries out activities for international organizations such as the EU and the WHO. Moreover RIVM transfers knowledge specifically aimed at capacity and institution building in for instance pre-accession countries and developing countries.

The research team will be headed by Dr. Willie Peijnenburg and will include experts from three RIVM expertise centres. Willie Peijnenburg will coordinate CADASTER, as well as Workpackage 1. He is scientific coordinator as well as project leader at RIVM for a variety of National and International projects aimed at supporting environmental risk assessment in the Netherlands and in pre-accession countries. His re­search focus is on the integration of emerging environmental issues at the borderline of environmental chemistry and (eco)toxicology. Current research interests include quan­titative and qualitative structure-ac­tivity rela­tion­ships (QSAR), fate and effects of nanomaterials, bioavailability of metals in soils and surface waters, and research in support of the implementation of REACH. He has pub­lished over 100 sci­en­tific papers and is currently in­volved in three FP6 EU projects. Within CADASTER, his research fo­cuses on setting up a database on methods, models and experimental data, the integration of these tools in hazard and risk assessment, and the active dissemination of project results. Dr. Peijnenburg will be supported by a project management office and by scientists and risk assessment experts of:

1 - The Expert Centre of Substances (SEC) is the expert centre of the Netherlands’ Govern­ment for problems regarding the hazard and risk assessment and the risk management aspects of chemical substances and genetically modified organisms. Pertinent research areas of SEC are hu­man and environmental risk assessment, standard setting, (eco)toxicology, and (Q)SARs. SEC is heavily involved in preparations for REACH at both regulatory and scientific level. SEC experts will contribute to CADASTER WPs 2, 4 and 5.

2 - The Laboratory for Ecological Risk Assessment (LER). The mission of LER is to develop scientific knowledge about effects of anthropogenic and natural stress on ecosystem functioning and translate this knowledge into operational approaches for regulatory agencies. Activities of LER comprise laboratory- and field-based experiments, as well as application and development of databases, mathematical models and user-friendly interfaced decision-support systems. LER will contribute to WPs 1, 2, 4, and 5.

3 - The Laboratory for Toxicology, Pathology and Genetics (TOX) is active in research into factors responsible for chronic diseases and infections, in particular cancer, overweight, cardiovascular diseases, and allergies. TOX advises the Dutch government on matters related to substances, medi­cines and vaccines and on how to present information about foods, tobacco products and medical aids to the public. TOX also develops alternative tests, with the aim of minimizing the need to carry out experiments on animals. TOX will contribute to CADASTER WP 2.

EC 2004. European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances 2.0 (EUSES 2.0). Prepared for the Euro­pean Chemicals Bureau by the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Biltho­ven, the Netherlands. Available from the European Chemicals Bureau, http://ecb.jrc.it

Jager T, Vermeire TG, Rikken MGJ, Van Der Poel P 2001. Opportunities for a probabilistic risk assessment of chemicals in the European Union. Chemosphere 43: 257-264.

Rikken M, Lijzen J 2004. Update of Risk Assessment Models for the Indirect Human Exposure. RIVM re­port 601516011/2004. Available from the RIVM-website: www.rivm.nl.

Vermeire T, Hakkert B, Aldenberg T, Dang Z, Hulzebos E, Janer G, De Knecht J, Van Loveren H, Peijnenburg W, Piersma A, Traas A, Verschoor , Van Zijverden M. 2007. Selected Integrated Test­ing Strategies (ITS) for the risk assessment of chemicals. RIVM-report 601050 001. Available from the RIVM-website: www.rivm.nl.

http://www.rivm.nl/en/

RIVM.ppt