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"Biomonitoring is the assessment of human exposure to environmental chemicals by measuring the chemicals or their metabolites in human blood, urine, saliva, or tissue. The results of such measurement are usually called "body burden." Nearly all of us carry a body burden of chemicals that sometimes is sufficiently substantial to either cause or exacerbate illness.
Biomonitoring can be used to:
- Reinforce regulatory actions by providing actual data about which chemicals get into people and at what levels
- Improve exposure assessment
- Establish baselines or reference ranges
- Facilitate people's right to know what chemicals are in their bodies;
- Establish priorities for tackling environmental health-related problems;
- Identify health disparities (e.g., Blood levels of certain toxic substance may be different according to the socioeconomic status)"
-International POPs Elimination Network, Community Monitoring Working Group fact sheet on biomonitoring
"Biomonitoring measurements are the most health-relevant assessments of exposure because they measure the amount of the chemical that actually gets into people, not the amount that may get into people."
-U.S. Centers for Disease Control, National Biomonitoring Program
Links to Biomonitoring Studies
Studies by Government Agencies |
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CANADA: Canadian Health Measures Survey |
GERMANY: Human Biomonitoring Commission, German Federal Environment Agency |
USA: States of California and Minnesota (programs under development) |
USA: National Report on Human Exposures to Environmental Chemicals, U.S. Centers for Disease Control National Biomonitoring Program |
USA: U.S. National Children's Study |
WHO (World Health Organization): Biomonitoring of Human Milk for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) |
UN (United Nations): Safe Planet Campaign |
Studies by Nonprofit Organizations (USA, Canada, UK) |
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ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP & COMMONWEAL: The Human Toxome Project: Mapping the Pollution in People |
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE: Toxic Nation |
WWF-UK: Contamination: The Next Generation - The Results of the Family Chemical Contamination Survey |
SIGHTLINE INSTITUTE: Flame Retardants in the Bodies of Pacific Northwest Residents |
GLOBAL COMMUNITY MONITOR: East Bay Body Burden Project |
TOXIC-FREE LEGACY COALITION (Washington State): Pollution in People |
OREGON ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: Pollution in People |
ALLIANCE FOR A CLEAN & HEALTHY VERMONT: The Chemicals in Me |
PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Hazardous Chemicals in Health Care: A Snapshot of Chemicals in Doctors and Nurses |
ALASKA COMMUNITY ACTION ON TOXICS, COMMONWEAL, & THE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES INITIATIVE: Mind, Disrupted: How Toxic Chemicals May Change How We Think and Who We Are |
ALLIANCE FOR A CLEAN & HEALTHY MAINE: Body of Evidence: A Study of Pollution in Maine People |
PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA (PANNA): Chemical Trespass: Pesticides in Our Bodies and Corporate Accountability |
Additional Resources
http://www.biomonitoring06.org/
- Coming Clean: Chemical Body Burden - An overview of chemical body burden, links to case studies and reports, and other resources.
- PBS: Trade Secrets - "As part of a study of pollutant loads in the human body sponsored by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, samples of Bill Moyers' blood and urine were analyzed. Eighty-four distinct chemicals were found."
- Committee on Human Biomonitoring for Environmental Toxicants, National Research Council. Human Biomonitoring for Environmental Chemicals. The National Academies Press, 2006.
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