ISRTP Workshop
Understanding Human Biomonitoring
June 16, 2005
Hyatt Hotel
Sacramento, CA
Background
Although exposure to chemicals - natural elements, compounds and trace amounts of man-made substances - comes as no surprise to scientists, due to advances in analytical chemistry methods, researchers can now detect and measure extraordinarily low levels of both natural and man-made substances in blood, urine, breast milk or other human fluids/tissue through an advanced technology, called biomonitoring. This promising public health tool can help us better understand human exposure to a wide range of substances. However, like all potentially useful tools, biomonitoring has limitations. It provides a snapshot of substances present in the body at a single point in time, corresponding to when the specimen is taken. But this alone does not tell us where a substance came from, when a person was exposed to it, the amount of exposure over time, or if there will be any health effects. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has made it clear that the mere presence of a substance cannot be interpreted as posing a risk to health: "Just because people have an environmental chemical in their blood or urine does not mean that the chemical causes disease." (Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, CDC NCEH Pub. No. 03-0022, January 2003). Still, biomonitoring can help improve public health decisions when it's part of an integrated strategy that not only identifies exposure to a substance but also assesses the potential health risk of that exposure.
Biomonitoring studies and programs have been, and will continue to be, implemented by regional, national and international organizations and research institutions. These biomonitoring programs pose both challenges and opportunities to science, policy and communications across research institutions, government laboratories, legislative bodies and the private sector as they strive to interpret biomonitoring data in a health context.
Objective of the Workshop
Increase the understanding of participants of human biomonitoring and the importance of building into a biomonitoring program processes that assure robust study designs, scientifically sound interpretation methods and high-quality public communications.