MOBI-KIDS is an international case-control study which aims to assess the potential associations between use of communication devices and other environmental risk factors and brain tumours in young people. The study is funded by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement 226873-  the MOBI-KIDS Project.

• prof. dr. ir. R.C.H. (Roel) Vermeulen

The Nightingale Study is a large occupational prospective cohort study that started enrollment in the Netherlands in October 2011. On this website you will find more information on the purpose, design and recruitment, and organization of the Nightingale Study as well as publications and opportunities for collaboration.

• prof. dr. ir. R.C.H. (Roel) Vermeulen
• dr. V.C. (Virissa) Lenters
• dr. M. (Marije) Reedijk
• dr. J.J. (Jelle) Vlaanderen

In the last few years the use of new communication technologies, like mobile phones and wireless internet, has rapidly increased. As these devices make use of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields (RF-EMF), human exposure to RF has also increased. There is extensive public and scientific interest in the possibility that RF exposure might increase the risk of disease, as this has yet to be determined.

This international cohort study on mobile phone use and health (COSMOS) is a long term project to investigate possible health effects associated with long term mobile phone use. COSMOS is an international consortium of five European countries (UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands) which together will characterize the mobile phone use (through operator traffic records and a self-reported questionnaire) and follow the health of at least 200,000 mobile phone users (over 18 years of age) for 20 to 30 years. Health outcomes to be studied include risk of cancers, benign tumors, neurological and cerebro-vascular diseases, as well as changes in occurrence of specific symptoms over time, such as headache and sleep disorders.

Each of the participating countries launched their own prospective cohort study on mobile phone and EMF related health risks. The COSMOS consortium is there to ensure that all these participating studies use similar protocols to enable pooling of data in the future. Combining data is necessary to address the possible associations between RF exposure and relatively rare diseases such as cancer of the brain.

• prof. dr. ir. R.C.H. (Roel) Vermeulen
• dr. V.C. (Virissa) Lenters
• dr. M. (Marije) Reedijk

The SYNERGY project -a pooled analysis of case-control studies on the joint effects of occupational carcinogens in the development of lung cancer- began in January 2007. The aim of SYNERGY is to study joint effects of occupational lung carcinogens and smoking. As of December 2011, data from 14 case-control studies conducted by renowned research groups in Europe and North America have been pooled. As of December 2011, the SYNERGY project had collected individual lifetime data on occupations and smoking history for >17 700 lung cancer cases and >21 800 control subjects.

The unique aspect of the SYNERGY project is its innovative strategy for assessing occupational exposures. The project currently focuses on exposure to asbestos, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nickel, chromium and respirable crystalline silica. Quantitative exposure measurements are being collected from large national or industry-specific exposure databases in Europe and Canada. The SYN-JEM, a job-exposure matrix based on these measurements, has now been linked to the epidemiological data.

The SYNERGY project is funded by the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), and is coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC), the Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the DGUV, Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA) and the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University (IRAS)

• prof. dr. ir. R.C.H. (Roel) Vermeulen
• dr. Susan Peters