Human Biomonitoring/Evaluation of Exposure Studies
An evaluation of exposure is a study that examines the level of an individual’s internal exposure to selected chemicals that they encounter. These types of studies are sometimes described as biomonitoring studies because they focus on quantifying human exposures to chemicals by measuring the amount of a chemical in an individual’s biological fluids or tissues (e.g., blood, urine, hair, nails).
The Benefits of Biomonitoring/Exposure Studies
Evaluations of exposure through biomonitoring have advantages to environmental monitoring (such as measuring chemicals in soil, air and water in order to estimate an individual’s environmental exposure) as they provide information on the actual exposures experienced by people and account for exposures from all potential sources (e.g., air, soil water, food and consumer products), pathways and routes (e.g., ingestion, inhalation and skin contact).
In addition to the collection of biological samples, these studies can also include a detailed questionnaire for participants to collect information about their environment and various personal factors that may influence exposure to a given chemical such as household characteristics, occupations, diet and personal habits. Biomonitoring studies can include the collection of environmental samples from individual households of participants to examine the potential influence of various environmental media on levels of internal exposure.
Collecting information on personal factors and concentrations of chemicals in environmental media allows for a statistical analysis of the correlation between each of these factors and levels of internal exposure for a community or population of interest. This can provide important information that can be used to identify significant sources of exposure and methods that can be used to mitigate exposure.
By combining biomonitoring data with environmental data and human health risk assessment (HHRA) findings, several lines of evidence can be available to assist in determining exposures and potential risks to human health from contaminants of potential concern.
How Intrinsik Can Help
Intrinsik has established an experienced team of toxicologists, epidemiologists, statisticians, and survey specialists to design and conduct biomonitoring/evaluation of exposure studies. Previous biomonitoring studies have focused on measuring the exposure of individuals to chemicals, including arsenic, lead and mercury in communities within Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Findings from some of these studies have been published in the following publications:
Intrinsik’s Biomonitoring Services
- Study design and submission of methodology for ethics approval (where applicable)
- Preparation and coordination of participant questionnaires/surveys
- Biological and environmental sample collection
- Laboratory coordination for the analysis of biological and environmental samples
- Statistical analysis of biological and environmental data
- Preparation of technical biomonitoring reports
- Stakeholder and regulator engagement support, including risk communication