Susana Viegas

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa | NOVA · NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.

E-waste management is a major environmental concern that also poses serious risks to occupational health. While e-waste workers are exposed to a variety of chemicals, little is known about occupational exposure to microbiological agents. This study aims to fill that gap. For that purpose, two e-waste facilities were assessed: one battery-recycling...

Background The burden of disease (BoD) methodology is a valuable tool for evidence-based policymaking. However, there is currently no systematic analysis available regarding its use in the European Union (EU) legislation framework. This study aims to describe the implementation of BoD methodology in EU legislation. Methods A search was conducted o...

Background Health systems have an environmental impact of around 4.6% of global emissions, contributing to aggravating the climate crisis. However, the health impact of the carbon emissions originated by health systems is not regularly assessed. We aim to estimate the health burden and associated costs of the carbon footprint of health systems acro...

Introduction In “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) stores, workers from the wood department are considered woodworkers. Given the health risks associated with woodworking, particularly from fungi and their metabolites, this study aims to assess microbial contamination and health risks for both workers and customers. Methods The study was developed in 13 DIY s...

Burden of disease (BoD) studies quantify the health impact of diseases and risk factors, which can support policymaking, particularly in the European Union (EU). This study aims to systematically analyse BoD studies, which address EU public policies to contribute to the understanding of its policy uptake. A systematic search of six electronic datab...

BACKGROUND AND AIM[|]Workers involved in welding, chrome plating, and surface treatment may face occupational exposure to Manganese (Mn) and Nickel (Ni). Within the Human Biomonitoring for Europe initiative (HBM4EU), a case-control study was conducted in occupational settings to assess exposure to these metals using biological and environmental sam...

Introduction The European human biomonitoring initiative (HBM4EU) aimed to harmonise human biomonitoring and to improve chemical risk assessment. The HBM4EU chromates study involved seven European countries to characterize occupational exposure to Cr(VI). We applied a cross-sectional study design and used chromium in urine as the primary biomonitor...

Coffee production involves different processes until being available as beverage involving several workers worldwide. Mycotoxins exposure may occur in this occupational setting since coffee beans are frequently contaminated with these fungal secondary metabolites due the crop infection by toxigenic fungi that commonly infect the plant during the va...

The sawmill market is driven by rising construction demand, with building and furniture gaining prominence. Workers in the sawmill industry may be exposed to wood derivatives, microorganisms, and their products, which can cause health effects such as decreased lung function, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and various respiratory disorders. Exposure...

Occupational biomonitoring plays a pivotal role in the assessment and management of chemical workplace exposures. It provides a direct measure of workers’ internal dose of chemicals, integrating all sources and routes of exposure. Biomonitoring can bridge the gap between potential exposure scenarios and real-world implications for worker health. Ne...

Microbial contamination poses a threat to both the preservation of library and archival collections and the health of staff and users. This study investigated the microbial communities and potential health risks associated with the UNESCO-classified Norwegian Sea Trade Archive (NST Archive) collection exhibiting visible microbial colonization and s...

Introduction The presence of the Penicillium section Aspergilloides (formerly known as Penicillium glabrum ) in the cork industry involves the risk of respiratory diseases such as suberosis. Methods The aim of this study was to corroborate the predominant fungi present in this occupational environment by performing a mycological analysis of 360 wo...

Human health risk assessment is historically built upon animal testing, often following Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) test guidelines and exposure assessments. Using combinations of human relevant in vitro models, chemical analysis and computational (in silico) approaches bring advantages compared to animal studies. T...

E-waste management is a major environmental concern that also poses serious risks to occupational health. While e-waste workers are exposed to a variety of chemicals, little is known about occupational exposure to microbiological agents. This study aims to fill that gap. For that purpose, two e-waste facilities were assessed: one battery-recycling...

Workers involved in the processing of electronic waste (e-waste) are potentially exposed to toxic chemicals, including phthalates and alternative plasticizers (APs). Dismantling and shredding of e-waste may lead to the production of dust that contains these plasticizers. The aim of this study, which was part of the European Human Biomonitoring Init...

Introduction It is of upmost importance to contribute to fill the knowledge gap concerning the characterization of the occupational exposure to microbial agents in the waste sorting setting (automated and manual sorting). Methods This study intends to apply a comprehensive field sampling and laboratory protocol (culture based-methods and molecular...

Workers are exposed to airborne dust at various phases of the wood- working and manufacturing processes, beginning with the tree-felling stage and varying in particle size, concentration, and composition. Fungi are the most well- known microorganisms present in this setting, which, under the correct circumstances, can flourish on wood products that...

Background The proliferation of mycotoxin-producing fungi in agricultural settings poses a challenge for human health and nutrition around the world. Mycotoxins contaminate food sources and their negative health outcomes include carcinogenic, nephrotoxic and teratogenic effects. Potential risks are still poorly characterized and few studies assess...

Background Particulate matter with or less 2.5 diameters (PM2.5) has deleterious health effects on humans. In 2020, exposure to levels of PM2.5 above World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines (WHO AQG) caused 238,000 and 2,600 premature deaths in the European Union and Portugal, respectively. During the lockdowns and restrictions periods due...

Due to their industrial origin and constituents, electric and electronic equipment may contain organic contaminants, such as polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and polybromodiphenylethers (PBDEs). Workers involved in the e-waste recycling are thus potentially exposed to these toxic chemicals via dust inhalation/ingestion and/or dermal contact. The present...

Objectives: Within the framework of the burden of disease (BoD) approach, disease and injury burden estimates attributable to risk factors are a useful guide for policy formulation and priority setting in disease prevention. Considering the important differences in methods, and their impact on burden estimates, we conducted a scoping literature re...

The environmental impact on health is an inevitable by-product of human activity. Environmental health sciences is a multidisciplinary field addressing complex issues on how people are exposed to hazardous chemicals that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations. Exposure sciences and environmental epidemiology a...

This study intends to present an overview from the assessments of fungal contamination and mycotoxins performed in three different occupational environments (Firefighters headquarters - FFH; Waste collection trucks – WCT and; Cemeteries - CM). Active sampling (impaction and impingement methods) and several passive sampling methods (swabs, settled d...

This study aimed to characterize microbial contamination in Portuguese grocery stores. The research was carried out in 15 grocery stores in Cascais, Portugal. Electrostatic dust cloths (EDC) and surface swabs were used on 3 sampling sites: checkout, fruits/vegetable, and warehouse/dispenser. Fungal contamination was characterized by culture-based m...

Objectives Active duty Navy military personnel are prone to vitamin D deficiency due to an occupational environment detrimental to sunlight exposure. The main objective of this systematic review is to provide a worldwide overview of vitamin D status in this population. Methods The Condition, Context, Population (CoCoPop) mnemonic was used to defin...

One of the aims of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative, HBM4EU, was to provide examples of and good practices for the effective use of human biomonitoring (HBM) data in human health risk assessment (RA). The need for such information is pressing, as previous research has indicated that regulatory risk assessors generally lack knowledge and...

Within the EU human biomonitoring initiative (HBM4EU), a targeted, multi-national study on occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) was performed. Cr(VI) is currently regulated in EU under REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and under occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation. It has rece...

Microbial contamination in grocery shops (GS) should be evaluated since food commodities are commonly handled by workers and customers increasing the risk of food contamination and disease transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbial contamination in Portuguese and Spanish GS with a multi-approach protocol using passive (electr...

Background: Exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] occurs widely in occupational settings across the EU and is associated with lung cancer. In 2025, the occupational exposure limit is set to change to 5 μg/m3. Current exposure limits are higher, with 10 μg/m3 as a general limit and 25 μg/m3 for the welding industry. We aimed to assess the curren...

As one of the core elements of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) a human biomonitoring (HBM) survey was conducted in 23 countries to generate EU-wide comparable HBM data. This survey has built on existing HBM capacity in Europe by aligning national or regional HBM studies, referred to as the HBM4EU Aligned Studies. The HBM4EU Ali...

Mycotoxins are natural metabolites produced by fungi that contaminate food and feed worldwide. They can pose a threat to human and animal health, mainly causing chronic effects, e.g., immunotoxic and carcinogenic. Due to climate change, an increase in European population exposure to mycotoxins is expected to occur, raising public health concerns. T...

One Health is an approach characterized by the integration of human and animal health, plants, and ecosystems and encourages multisectoral and multidisciplinary efforts to achieve optimal levels of health and collaboration among different sectors and scientific areas to address challenging health problems. Through this approach is possible to obtai...

Biodiversity underpins all life on Earth, and refers to biological variety in all its forms, from the genetic makeup of plants and animals to cultural diversity. Human health depends upon ecosystem products and services (e.g. availability of fresh water, food and fuel sources) which are requisite for human and animal health. Biodiversity loss can h...

Particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) are one of the air pollutants more detrimental to human health, being responsible for around 400 000 premature deaths in Europe every year. The cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and air pollution are linked, with existing evidence of a causal relationship between exposure to particulate matte...

Respiratory abnormalities among workers at coffee roasting and packaging facilities have already been reported; however, little is known about microbiological contamination inside coffee production facilities. This study intends to assess the microbial contamination (fungi and bacteria) in two coffee industries from Brazil with a multi-approach pro...

Occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)], a known lung carcinogen, remains a relevant concern. When performing exposure assessment for risk assessment, biomonitoring is an important tool, reflecting actual internal exposure of workers. Here, we present total urinary chromium (U-Cr) biomonitoring data from several occupational sectors,...

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107476

The occupational exposure to chemicals usually occurs in higher levels than for the general population, usually by inhalation and dermal absorption but inadvertent ingestion may also occur. Biomonitoring is a powerful tool to assess exposure at the individual level, thus providing additional and valuable information in comparison with air monitorin...

A study was conducted within the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) to characterize occupational exposure to Cr(VI). Herein we present the results of biomarkers of genotoxicity and oxidative stress, including micronucleus analysis in lymphocytes and reticulocytes, the comet assay in whole blood, and malondialdehyde and 8-oxo-2′-deoxyg...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the chemicals with proven impact on workers’ health. The use of human biomonitoring (HBM) to assess occupational exposure to PAHs has become more common in recent years, but the data generated need an overall view to make them more usable by regulators and policymakers. This comprehensive review, de...

Assuring a proper environment for the fulfillment of professional activities is one of the Sustainable Development Goals and is contemplated in the One Health approach assumed by the World Health Organization. This particular study is applied to an often neglected sector of our society—the conservators/restorers—despite the many health issues repor...

Background Evaluating and managing exposures to chemical, physical and biological stressors, which frequently interplay with psychological stressors as well as social and behavioural aspects, is crucial for protecting human and environmental health and transitioning towards a sustainable future. Advances in our understanding of exposure rely on inp...

Human biomonitoring (HBM) is a crucial approach for exposure assessment, as emphasised in the European Commission’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS). HBM can help to improve chemical policies in five major key areas: (1) assessing internal and aggregate exposure in different target populations; 2) assessing exposure to chemicals across l...

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)), nickel (Ni) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are genotoxic co-occurring lung carcinogens whose occupational health risk is still understudied. This study, conducted within the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU), aimed at performing a mixtures risk assessment (MRA) based on published human biomo...

Diisocyanates have long been a leading cause of occupational asthma in Europe, and recently, they have been subjected to a restriction under the REACH regulations. As part of the European Human Biomonitoring project (HBM4EU), we present a study protocol designed to assess occupational exposure to diisocyanates in five European countries. The object...

Previous studies anticipated that microorganisms and their metabolites in waste will increase as a consequence of a decreased collection frequency and due to differences in what kind of waste is bagged before collection leading to an increased exposure of workers handling the waste. This study aim was to investigate the microbial contamination pres...

Results of meeting 132 of the IARC Monographs

Occupational exposures to hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) can occur in welding, hot working stainless steel processing, chrome plating, spray painting and coating activities. Recently, within the human biomonitoring for Europe initiative (HBM4EU), a study was performed to assess the suitability of different biomarkers to assess the exposure to Cr(VI)...

Cemeteries are potential environmental reservoirs of pathogenic microorganisms from organic matter decomposition. This study aimed to characterize the microbial contamination in three cemeteries, and more specifically in grave diggers' facilities. One active sampling method (im-pingement method) and several passive sampling methods (swabs, settled...

Introduction Vitamin D is critical for bone health and its deficiency has been linked to increased incidence and severity of multiple diseases. Even so, vitamin D inadequacy is a major public health problem worldwide. The main source of vitamin D is endogenous cutaneous synthesis through exposure to solar ultraviolet B radiation, which is influence...

Waste workers are exposed to bioaerosols when handling, lifting and dumping garbage. Bioaerosol exposure has been linked to health problems such as asthma, airway irritant symptoms, infectious, gastrointestinal and skin diseases, and cancer. Our objective was to characterize the exposure of urban collectors and drivers to inhalable bioaerosols and...

Exposure to hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) may occur in several occupational activities, placing workers in many industries at risk for potential related health outcomes. Untargeted metabolomics was applied to investigate changes in metabolic pathways in response to Cr(VI) exposure. We obtained our data from a study population of 220 male workers with...

Work-related exposures in industrial processing of chromate (chrome plating, surface treatment and welding) raise concern regarding the health risk of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)). In this study, performed under the HBM4EU project, we focused on better understanding the determinants of exposure and recognising how risk management measures (RMMs) co...

Electrostatic dust cloths (EDC) have been widely used for microbiologic contamination assessment in different indoor and occupational environments. This paper reviews sixteen studies performed in Portugal between 2018 and 2021 for evaluating the exposure to microbiological agents and focusing on fungi using EDC as a passive sampling method. The fin...

In this article, we have responded to the key statements in the article by Koivisto et al. (2022) that were incorrect and considered to be a biased critique on a subset of the exposure models used in Europe (i.e. ART and Stoffenmanager®) used for regulatory exposure assessment. We welcome scientific discussions on exposure modelling (as was done du...

The composition of airborne microflora in sawmills may vary to a great degree depending on the kind of timber being processed and the technology of production being used. Cases of allergy alveolitis and asthma have been reported in woodworkers who were exposed to wood dust largely infected with microorganisms. The aim of this review article is to i...