In the coming weeks, RIVM will derive a temporary background value for PFAS in Dutch soil. This will be done based on measurement data from the provinces in the Netherlands.

On 16 October, farmers protested in the vicinity of RIVM in Bilthoven. The Director-General of RIVM, Hans Brug, was present at the protest site. 

There is concern about the current approach to nitrogen and the proposed measures; these concerns have been expressed in Dutch society as a whole and amongst farmers in particular.

RIVM has identified a cluster of 20 patients diagnosed with listeria over the past 2 years who are most likely to have been infected with an identical strain.

So far, none of the models used by international networks of biobanks to arrange the legal responsibility under the CBD-Nagoya protocol works efficiently.

A large international congress on tuberculosis will start in The Hague on October 24.

On 17 and 18 October 2018, RIVM visited the German Environment Agency Umwelt Bundesamt (UBA).

In 2014, a colorectal cancer screening programme was launched in the Netherlands. In a factsheet we describe the lessons learned during the introduction of this nationwide programme.

Today, 10 October 2018, is national Sustainability Day in the Netherlands.

Issue 2 of our quarterly newsletter is out now. It features the best read news stories and background information on public health and the environment from RIVM in the third quarter of 2018.