On July 24, 2006, the National Academies’ National Research Council issued a report providing an overview of biomonitoring activities in the United States and abroad. The report discusses ways biomonitoring data are used, and suggests ways to improve the interpretation of these data. The report, Human Biomonitoring for Environmental Chemicals, makes four findings:

1. That “there has not been a coordinated and consistent public health-based strategy for selecting how chemicals are included in or excluded from biomonitoring studies. There is a need for a consistent rationale for selecting chemicals for study based on exposure and public health concerns”;
2. The “ability to detect chemicals has outpaced the ability to interpret health risks. Epidemiologic, toxicologic, and exposure-assessment studies have not adequately incorporated biomonitoring data for interpretation of health risks at the individual, community, population levels”;
3. That the communication of results to be challenging and potentially a leniency further as to the future of biomonitoring; and
4. Biomonitoring research raises ethical issues involving informed consent and the interpretation of study. The report is available at www.nap.edu.