Mycotoxins under the Human Biomonitoting Initiative (HBM4EU): challenges in the near future

Mycotoxins are natural toxins produced by several fungi genera that contaminate cereals, fruits and other food. The ingestion of contaminated food and feed may result not only in acute disease but also in chronic conditions, e.g., reproductive toxicity, inflammatory bowel diseases or cancer either in animals or humans. It is thus of high relevance to use a one health approach to monitor environmental, human and animal exposure to mycotoxins and their effects, in order to decrease mycotoxins-associated outcomes. In the Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU, https://www.hbm4eu.eu/the-project/), following a systematic prioritization exercise which brought together national and EU level policy needs for knowledge on chemical exposure and health outcomes, mycotoxins (Deoxynivalenol and Fumonisin B1) were considered as priority substances around which the HBM4EU research programme is being developed. Within the three pillars of the HBM4EU, namely, 1. Science to Policy, 2. European HBM Platform and 3. Exposure and Health, answers to several identified policy questions related to mycotoxins exposure and effects are being debated, including the current levels of human exposure and time trends in Europe, geographical differences and highly exposed subgroups (including workers), the availability of toxicokinetics data, methods for analyzing mycotoxins and their metabolites in human samples, the potential for using effect biomarkers, the use of biomonitoring data under a risk assessment framework, derivation of HBM guidance values. During this presentation, challenges related to those questions and human biomonitoring of mycotoxins will be presented and discussed in the perspective of a one health approach. Work co-funded by the HBM4EU project, Grant Agreement No: 733032 and by national funds: FCT/MEC - FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020 through CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020) and ToxOmics (UIDB/00009/2020). N/A