Grants were supplied from the European Union (Sixth Framework Programme; PHIME; FOOD-CT-2006-016253) and long series of funding agencies in the participa-ting countries. The paper reflects only the authors' views; the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information. IJOMEH 2013;26(1) 59 know of took place more than 20 years ago [3]. For chil-dren, one single recent study, which also included three non-European cities, indicated very small differences be-tween six European cities [4]. In this study, the levels of cadmium (B-Cd), lead (B-Pb) and mercury (B-Hg) in blood samples of women from six European and three non-European cities, and from a mixed urban/rural population in the northern part of Sweden were assessed. All determinations were made in one single laboratory, and under strict QC/QA. Data on children's B-Cd, B-Pb and B-Hg in the same or nearby cities have been reported previously [4].