Assessment of prenatal exposure to mercury: standard operating procedures

Mercury is toxic for humans, and the toxic effects of different forms of mercury have been extensively studied. Human biomonitoring is recognized as the most effective tool for evaluation of cumulative human exposure to mercury. In-utero development is the most vulnerable stage for the long-term adverse neurodevelopmental effects of mercury. Characterizing prenatal exposure is critical for evaluating public health impacts of mercury and assessing public health benefits of exposure reduction measures. Approaches to estimating exposure to mercury include measuring mercury levels in different biological matrices. The level of mercury in tissues can be an indicator of exposure to various types of mercury. The validity, usefulness and meaning of such measurements depend on the form of mercury exposure, type of tissue measurement and other factors. This document consists of standard operating procedures describing the assessment of mercury in hair, cord blood and urine. Quality control is essential to get reliable results. The document also provides information on alternative methods that can be used for analysis of mercury.

Cycling and green jobs: key findings of the forthcoming joint report by UNEP, WHO and UNECE

The need to develop sustainable transport policies, which improve the quality of transport while contributing to better health, a cleaner environment and greater social cohesion, was one of the reasons for establishing the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP). This is an advance executive summary of a new study Riding towards the green economy: cycling and green jobs, undertaken in the context of THE PEP’s partnership on jobs in green and healthy transport. It builds on a 2014 publication Unlocking new opportunities – jobs in green and healthy transport by (1) reviewing the methods used in other studies to estimate the number of jobs associated with cycling for various locations and (2) gathering more evidence on cycling-related jobs directly from cities. This summary highlights the main findings of the study. The full report will be released later this year.