Environmental sensor-equipped, GPS-enabled smartphones are set to be used in researching possible adverse effects of chemicals exposure to the human body, in the EU’s biggest to-date investment into environmental health research.

The €8.7m Exposomics project sets out to study the potential hazards of chemical exposure to the body, while at the same time analysing blood and urine samples to determine risk factors and see whether a chemical fingerprint can be detected in bodily fluids.

“It has become clear that the diseases with the greatest burden, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, are mainly caused by factors other than genetics. These are likely to include aspects of lifestyle and the environment, but the precise roles of different factors in causing diseases are not well understood,” said Professor Paolo Vineis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London.

The term ‘exposome’ refers to the environmental components affecting a person’s health over the course of their life time, including lifestyle factors and chemicals exposure.

“We are all exposed to low levels of environmental pollutants every day, such as diesel exhaust, tobacco smoke, and pesticides. It’s very difficult to assess the health effects of these exposures, because often there are no unexposed people to compare with,” Prof Vineis added.

In order to measure the exposomes, high-tech tools are being developed, particularly those focusing on air and water pollution during critical periods of life.

via Smartphones equipped with sensors to study EU air pollution – E & T Magazine.