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Title: The role of human biological monitoring in health risk assessment

Authors: Roma Gurusankar; Nagarajkumar Yenugadhati; Kannan Krishnan; Sean Hays; Douglas Haines; Angelika Zidek; Sandra Kuchta; David Kinniburgh; Stephan Gabos; Donald Mattison; Daniel Krewski

Addresses: BMK Scientific Consultancy, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ' University of Ottawa, McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ' Département de santé environnementale et santé au travail, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada ' Summit Toxicology, LLP, Allenspark, Colorado, USA ' Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ' Assessment Methodology Division, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ' Assessment Methodology Division, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ' University of Calgary, Alberta Centre for Toxicology, Alberta, Canada ' Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Division of Analytical and Environmental Toxicology, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada ' University of Ottawa, McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ' University of Ottawa, McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: Human biological monitoring refers to the measurement of biomarkers in biological specimens. Advances in analytical chemistry together with an increased understanding of the potential toxicity of environmental chemicals have propelled the quest to identify and monitor chemicals and metabolites in human biological specimens. Many biomonitoring programs have provided valuable data on the presence of environmental chemicals in biological matrices. The availability of this large volume of biomonitoring data has increased the need to understand this information with respect to potential human health risks. This review summarises approaches for interpreting biomonitoring data in the context of population health and risk assessment. Moreover, the advantages and limitations of human biomonitoring approaches, major challenges in the interpretation of HBM data and the utility of human biomonitoring data in health risk assessment context are presented. Several knowledge gaps to improve the ability to interpret human biomonitoring data are discussed.

Keywords: human biomonitoring; HBM; biomonitoring data interpretation; forward dosimetry; biomonitoring equivalents; HBM-I; HBM-II; reverse dosimetry; daily intake estimation; triclosan; phthalates; human biological monitoring; health risk assessment; biomarkers; human health risks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2017.082561

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 2017 Vol.20 No.1/2/3, pp.136 - 197

Received: 21 Jan 2016
Accepted: 21 Jan 2016
Published online: 01 Mar 2017 *