The Stockholm Convention (SC) on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is a global treaty under UNEP with the objective to protect human health and the environment from hazardous, long-lasting chemicals. Ten years after the adoption of the Convention on May 22, 2001, an expert meeting organized by the RECETOX Centre was held in Brno, Czech Republic, with the support of the American Chemical Society and the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences. The aim of the workshop was to identify gaps, challenges, and research needs associated with the global assessment of hazardous chemicals. Recognizing that significant but insufficient progress has been made toward the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2020 goal on chemicals management through existing programs, the participants identified priority areas that are outlined in this paper.

In an experimental study, ventilation filters of high quality (F7 and F9) were tested regarding their efficiency in collecting birch pollen allergens in outdoor air. The birch pollen grain concentration in outdoor air was measured at the same time as pollen allergen and particle number concentrations were measured before and after the tested ventilation filters, thus enabling collection efficiency calculations. Simultaneously, the size distribution of birch pollen allergens was measured in outdoor air using a cascade impactor. The study confirms previous indications that pollen allergens occur in outdoor air in particles much smaller than pollen grains, and can penetrate ventilation filters to a larger extent than might be expected. This entails that although the high quality filters collect most of outdoor air pollen allergens, a significant exposure dose to these allergens can occur in the indoor environment, especially when considering the fact most people stay much more indoors than outdoors. The study also confirms previous similar indications attained with grass pollen allergens, in that the allergenic particles tend to penetrate ventilation filters to a greater extent than other airborne particles.

Development of tools to monitor biological effects in organisms would meet industry demands and recommendations on environmental monitoring and impact assessment set by OSPAR. Biomarkers hold a great potential in this context and decision making processes. The Biosea Joint Industry Project (JIP) included studies of how hydrocarbon exposure and biomarker response knowledge may be transferred from the more studied North Sea to the less studied Arctic Barents Sea.