A snap-shot, but not the whole story.
Scientists have long understood that our bodies absorb substances and chemicals from our environments.
In some instances, substances or chemicals may be ingested or inhaled as we go about our everyday lives. The critical question to answer about the impact this has on our health is whether or not, and how quickly, our bodies excrete or otherwise dispose of them.
Today, because of recent technological advances in analytical chemistry, biomonitoringtechnology allows researchers to detect and measure extraordinarily low levels of natural and man-made ingredients in blood, urine, breast milk or other human fluids/tissue. Biomonitoring is a promising public health tool that can help us better understand human exposure to a wide-range of substances. As biomonitoring technology advances, more information is being made available to help public and private sector scientists, medical professionals and policy makers enhance public health, community well-being and worker health and safety.
Like all potentially useful tools, biomonitoring has limitations. Trace levels of natural or man-made substances may enter our bodies through a variety of routes, such as eating, breathing, drinking, and contact with our surroundings. They may also be generated internally through natural processes such as the body’s metabolism. Biomonitoring provides a snapshot of those substances present in the body at a single point in time, but it 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.
Biomonitoring does not tell the whole story, and if misinterpreted, can provide misleading information. Still, biomonitoring can help improve public health decisions when it is part of an integrated strategy that not only identifies exposure to a substance but also assesses the potential health risk of that exposure.