148 Keynote: Should We Rely on Air Monitoring? What Can Biomonitoring Bring to the Party?
In: Annals of work exposures and health: addressing the cause and control of work-related illness and injury, Band 67, Heft Supplement_1, S. i2-i2
ISSN: 2398-7316
Abstract
Measuring concentrations of chemicals in media air, water and soil is inadequate for assessing human exposures and the effects of exposure. Human biomonitoring (HBM) offers an improved understanding of potential health risks through the detection of "biomarkers" of exposure that indicate the progressive response to exposures in the human body that lead to disease… before disease occurs. Do you agree? From a public health perspective HBM was used to reduce human exposures to lead, PCB's and the pesticide DDT. Examples of how UKHSA (formerly PHE) has used HBM to protect human health illustrate the need for HBM data. The use of HBM data as well as measurements of arsenic in drinking water is an example of the need for both. UKHSA is planning a national HBM program for the UK building on the work of the European HBM Initiative - HBM4EU. Public health risk assessments are based on evaluation of environmental exposure compared to Tolerable Dailey Intakes: HBM data can reduce uncertainty in human health risk assessment. But HBM is not a magic bullet and there are ethical issues that need to be considered.