The Imperial College London, UK Team (Prof Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, and Drs Nicky Best and Mireille Toledano – Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (DEPH)) will co-ordinate the project, lead a number of WPs (2, 5, 10) and contribute to others. They have extensive experience and expertise in the area of DBPs and reproductive health, particularly on the exposure assessment, including GIS, statistical and epidemiological aspects. The area is one of the key research themes within the department, and the proposed is work is complementary and a natural progression. They currently conduct a UK wide epidemiological study to examine the relationship between DBPs and birth outcomes, including stillbirth, birth weight and congenital anomalies in the UK funded by the UK Drinking Water Inspectorate and Department of Health. Furthermore they hold an EPSRC grant on measurement and formation of haloacetic acids and other by-products. They have been/are involved in a number of EC funded projects (e.g. EXPOLIS, INTARESE, Pollutants from Urban Wastewater and Sewage Sludge) and Dr Nieuwenhuijsen was the overall project co-ordinator of the EC study EXPASCAN, funded by the INCO Copernicus programme.

Prof Nieuwenhuijsen was a member of the IARC working group evaluating the carcinogenicity of water contaminants including DBPs (IARC 2002, Volume 84) and he co-organised a full day workshop on the occurrence, formation, toxicology and epidemiology of DBPs at the ISEA/ISEE conference in Vancouver 11-15 August, 2002. He was an invited member to the workshop ‘Optimizing the design and interpretation of epidemiologic studies to consider alternative disinfectants of drinking water’ organised by EPA 2-3 June, 2005, Raleigh NC. He is the co-chair for the Gordon research conference on Drinking Water Disinfection By-products: Integrating Occurrence and Formation, Exposure, Toxicity, and Epidemiology, August 13-18, 2006, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.