Biomonitoring
Experience
The general population is exposed to a variety of natural and man-made chemicals present in ambient air, in food and water, and in homes and workplaces. For public health reasons, it is essential to determine the extent of exposure to different chemicals in order to identify the risks, if any, that may be posed and to help identify where risk management procedures are required. Biomonitoring is a means of assessing such exposures from all potential routes by measurement of specific ‘biomarkers’ in blood, urine or other tissues or body fluids. The term ‘biomarker’ encompasses both markers of exposure to a given chemical (e.g. the presence of the chemical, its metabolite(s) or reaction product(s) in body fluids, such as in blood and urine) and biomarkers of effect (which are indicative of a response to exposure to a given chemical, e.g. a measurable biological change in a body fluid or tissue).
The multi-disciplinary team of scientists at the Institute provides significant experience in the field of human biomonitoring and is complemented by expertise available in epidemiology and statistics. In addition, the Institute regularly collaborates with many other recognised international experts in the field of biomonitoring.
Relevant areas of expertise include:
- Knowledge of the use of biomarkers in environmental exposure assessment
- Determination of reference values of biomarkers of exposure in the general population
- Understanding of the framework underlying the application of environmental biological monitoring guidance values
Examples of Ongoing or Recent Biomonitoring Projects
- Background Incidence of Key Biomarkers of Chemical Exposure within the General UK Population
This Cefic-LRI funded study was carried out to address the specific issue of ‘normal’ background levels in the UK general population of a number of biomarkers (the chemical itself or one its stable metabolites) for a variety of frequently encountered environmental chemicals. Reference values were established for nine environmental chemicals, benzene (mainly from vehicle fuel and exhaust emissions but also other combustion products and some consumer products); chlorinated hydrocarbons (commonly used at work and in the home as solvents, also found in drinking water); dithiocarbamates (widely used fungicides and detected in food pesticide monitoring surveys); mercury (found in dental amalgams, batteries and some pharmaceuticals, also present in fish); naphthalene (bathroom products and mothballs); diethylhexyl phthalate (one member of a group of commonly-used plasticisers found in plastics, food packaging and personal-care products); synthetic pyrethroids (widely used pesticides in agriculture and in the home) and xylene (a commonly-used solvent).
- A Framework for the Development and Application of Environmental Biological Monitoring Guidance Values
The primary objective of this on-going Cefic-LRI funded study is to develop and propose a scientifically defensible practical framework for establishing different types of biological monitoring guidance values (BGVs) for the assessment of environmental exposures to a wide range of anthropogenic and naturally occurring environmental contaminants. The framework will also address suggested uses of BGVs and their implications for public health. It is foreseen that the framework will define minimum data requirements for the derivation of BGVs and reflect the reliability and confidence that can be placed upon derived BGVs, e.g. whether based on in vitro, in vivo or QSAR data. In addition, the framework will aim to define guidelines where the setting of such guideline values would be uninformative or even misleading.
The Use of Biomarkers in Environmental Exposure Assessment
