Last Thursday, September 4, the third stakeholder meeting of the PFAS research program took place at RIVM. Approximately 140 participants included representatives from national, regional, and local policy, municipal health services, water boards, interest organizations, businesses, universities, and research institutes.

The central question of the PFAS research program is: how can, in addition to existing and planned measures, the PFAS exposure of people through food, drinking water, and the living environment in the Netherlands be further reduced? During this meeting, the available results of the research program and ongoing studies were discussed. 

The component ‘PFAS in humans’ was centrally presented. The researcher took the audience through what human biomonitoring in the PFAS research program is all about. She provided an explanation of the results of the first sub-study and discussed the status of the upcoming two sub-studies on PFAS in humans.

A preview was also given of another research program at RIVM about PFAS: the recently started Health Studies on PFAS in the regions around Chemours and the Western Scheldt. Until the end of 2027, RIVM will investigate whether (more) health complaints or diseases occur in the regions around Chemours and the Western Scheldt that may be related to exposure to PFAS. The findings will be made public and published on the RIVM website. 

The concluding stakeholder meeting of the PFAS research program will take place in the autumn of 2026. The outcomes of this research program, which RIVM is conducting from 2023 to 2026 on behalf of the ministries of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW), Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), and Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LVVN), will be discussed.

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