A quality assurance/quality control program was implemented in the framework of the EU project HBM4EU to assess and improve the comparability of biomarker analysis and to build a network of competent laboratories. Four rounds of proficiency tests were organized for 15 phthalate and two DINCH urinary biomarkers (0.2-138 ng/mL) over a period of 18 months, with the involvement of 28 laboratories. A substantial improvement in performance was observed after the first round in particular, and by the end of the program, an average satisfactory performance rate of 90% was achieved. The interlaboratory reproducibility as derived from the participants' results varied for the various biomarkers and rounds, with an average of 24% for the biomarkers of eight single-isomer phthalates (e.g., DnBP and DEHP) and 43% for the more challenging biomarkers of the mixed-isomer phthalates (DiNP, DiDP) and DINCH. When the reproducibility was based only on the laboratories that consistently achieved a satisfactory performance, this improved to 17% and 26%, respectively, clearly demonstrating the success of the QA/QC efforts. The program thus aided in building capacity and the establishment of a network of competent laboratories able to generate comparable and accurate HBM data for phthalate and DINCH biomarkers in 14 EU countries. In addition, global comparability was ensured by including external expert laboratories.

Department of Environmental Health Norwegian Institute of Public Health 0213 Oslo Norway

Department of Environmental Science Aarhus University DK 4000 Roskilde Denmark

Department of Food Analysis and Nutrition Faculty of Food and Biochemical Technology University of Chemistry and Technology 166 28 Prague Czech Republic

Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational Social and Environmental Medicine Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen Nürnberg 91054 Erlangen Germany

Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum 44789 Bochum Germany

LABERCA Oniris INRAE 44307 Nantes France

National Centre for Environmental Health Instituto de Salud Carlos 3 28220 Majadahonda Spain

Wageningen Food Safety Research Part of Wageningen University and Research 6708 WB Wageningen The Netherlands

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From science to policy: How European HBM indicators help to answer policy questions related to phthalates and DINCH exposure