Everyone is exposed to low levels of many chemicals in their daily lives, including pesticides, benzene, flame retardants and ‘forever chemicals’ (in non-stick pans and food packaging), also to metals such as lead. We also breathe in air pollutants including tiny fragments from brake and tyre wear and mould spores. For most of these exposures, we currently have limited understanding of how they affect health. We have held two patient and public meetings that have helped shape this proposal, with concerns expressed about chemical exposure in the home, moulds, noise and air pollution.

We plan to strengthen existing UK systems to measure environmental exposures and understand how they affect the body. We will develop new technologies to detect chemicals in emergency situations. We will also investigate whether environmental exposures affect the living organisms found in lungs, gut and skin, that support good health. For example, initial work at the University of Leicester suggests air and chemical pollution can worsen bacterial infections in the lungs.

Our team have excellent experience of conducting large-scale health studies using patient and volunteer data. These will help us to identify health impacts of chemicals and air pollution in the UK – and how other factors may worsen effects. For example, transport noise, higher temperatures and pollen levels, may worsen impacts of air pollution. We will develop laboratory techniques to rapidly detect exposure to chemicals in the environment and through analysis of breath in people. We will also identify ways a chemical can affect human cells, measuring thousands of samples at a time. New statistical and computing techniques, including artificial intelligence, will help us understand which chemicals, metals and environmental exposures may be causing us harm. Our work will consider people from a range of different social and cultural backgrounds to see if this affects being exposed and also if it increases risks to health.

Our Health Protection Research Unit partners are the UKHSA who protect public health, and the Health and Safety Executive who protect health in workplaces. We have already been working together for four years in the current Leicester Health Protection Research Unit to develop evidence to support environmental policy. Examples of our current work include investigating whether chemical exposures in people with asthma affects symptoms; examining if adding fluoride to water to reduce tooth decay might have wider impacts on health; and measurement of chemical emissions from 3D printers to develop guidance on safe use in homes and schools.

Training new researchers will be an important part of work, to create an inclusive environment where world class health protection research, focused on the needs of the public, can thrive. We will increase the number and skills of researchers working in this area to conduct research relevant to the whole population. 

In collaboration with the University of Leicester and the Health and Safety Executive.