There is a growing recognition of the importance of hazardous substances for the human health. WHO has stated that more than 25% of the total costs of disease burden are related to chemically induced risk.

Department of Environmental Science’s research in this field addresses routes of exposure to contaminants from the environment to humans, including consumer products, the indoor environment and food. The work also deals with the uptake and accumulation of persistent organic pollutants in humans, which is taken further in studies of human biomonitoring. As part of the research, the institute is contributing to the development of the human biomonitoring program under the EU (https://www.hbm4eu.eu/).

The research also includes risk assessment scenarios based on consumption of and exposure to chemicals. Among the focus areas are endocrine disruptors, flame retardants, perfluorinated substances, munition residues as well as exposure, modelling and public health assessment.

The institute participates in a number of international networks. Among others in the WHO chemicals risk assessment network (http://www.who.int/ipcs/network/en/), with focus on human health, and the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (http: //hesiglobal.org/) focusing on on risk analysis methods and alternative methods for animal testing, and analyzes for Green Cross (http://www.gcint.org/) regarding risk assessment of past military activities.