People can come into contact with endocrine disrupting chemicals in various ways. Exposure can take place via oral ingestion, skin absorption, or inhalation. Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals is by no means always harmful. The harmfulness depends on the duration and frequency of exposure, and on how much of the substance you were exposed to.The potential health effects can also depend on the stage of life during which you are exposed to these substances. For example, the effects of exposure during pregnancy, the period around birth or during a person’s youth or adolescence can be different from the effects of exposure in adulthood. This is because hormones play an important part in body processes in each of these life phases.

On this page you will find a monthly overview of the published reports and knowledge briefs since January 2025. All RIVM reports, knowledge notes and scientific articles can be found in the RIVM Publications Repository.

Isabel Arends took up her position as Director-General of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) on 1 April 2026. In that role, she will ensure that RIVM continues to develop as a learning organisation committed to addressing societal challenges in the areas of public health and the environment. Together with RIVM’s Executive Board, she will make strategic decisions on matters such as innovation, digitalisation and collaboration with national and international knowledge partners.

The 2024 key figures for tuberculosis provide an overview of the number of reported cases of tuberculosis and tuberculosis infections in the Netherlands.Source: NTR/RIVM-CIb, March 2025Read the 24 March 2025 news article about the 2024 key figures: Tuberculosis increases slightly in the Netherlands

The 2025 key figures for tuberculosis (Kerncijfers tuberculose 2025) provide an overview of the number of reported cases of tuberculosis and tuberculosis infections in the Netherlands.Source: NTR/RIVM-CIb, March 2026Read the 24 March 2026 news article about the 2025 key figures: More people with tuberculosis in the Netherlands 

Dr Fons van der Lucht is an experienced researcher in the field of public health, focusing on healthy ageing. He is currently senior researcher at RIVM. In addition, he works as a professor of Healthy Ageing and Public Health at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen.

As a senior scientist at RIVM, Prof. Agnes Oomen is involved in research on exposure, kinetics, hazard and risks of chemicals and materials. Her focus is the potential effects of these substances, or a mixture of substances (cumulation), on the human body. In addition, Oomen contributes to methods to prevent problems in terms of safety, sustainability and planetary health, and that regulatory frameworks for chemicals are as prepared as possible for future developments, such as in the field of nanomaterials and advanced materials.

Prof. Mirjam Luijten is senior researcher in the field of next-generation risk assessment, an innovative approach for assessing health risks that chemicals may pose to humans. She works as a scientific researcher at RIVM’s Centre for Health Protection and is a professor by special appointment in Human-relevant Risk Assessment of Chemicals at Leiden University’s Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR).