Biological monitoring and standard setting in the USA: a critical appraisal

Details

• Personal Author:
  Rappaport SM
• Description:
  Two advantages of biomonitoring compared with air monitoring were discussed with reference to the occupational exposure limits used by OSHA, which has relied on air monitoring, rather than biomonitoring to determine whether a group of workers is in compliance with occupational exposure limits. The standards by which OSHA establishes permissible exposure limits for hazardous chemicals were described. The controversies associated with dose versus dose rate used in setting short term exposure limits and the advantages of biomonitoring as the primary means of assessment after long term exposure were discussed. The exposure/biomarker relationship was described for air and blood levels of lead (7439921). The use of air and blood lead levels to determine compliance was discussed. When exposure is not in compliance, OSHA requires medical surveillance or blood tests. Because substances like lead and cadmium (7440439) accumulate in tissues over months, blood concentrations can be much lower than air levels. In such cases, biomonitoring would be better because the individual variability of the biomarker would be smaller than personal exposures. Biomonitoring is currently muddled because its advantages require collecting concurrent air and biological data for the same people for long time periods, which is unlikely without official sanctions. The author concludes that in setting and enforcing new standards, OSHA should give more prominence to biomonitoring. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomarkers Environmental Monitoring Metals, Heavy Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Safety Toxicology
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Author Keywords: Risk Assessment Biological-monitoring Biological Monitoring Dose-response Exposure-limits Exposure Limits Grants-other Heavy-metals NIOSH-Grant NIOSH-Publication Occupational-exposure Risk-analysis

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• ISSN:
  0378-4274
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  171-182
• Volume:
  77
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00228639
• Citation:
  Toxicol Lett 1995 May; 77(1-3):171-182
• Contact Point Address:
  S.M. Rappaport, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. NC 27599-7400, USA
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9) ; Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• NORA Priority Area:
  Other Occupational Concerns ; Grants Other
• Performing Organization:
  University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19850901
• Source Full Name:
  Toxicology Letters
• End Date:
  19931227
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7734af34d1e29550b23b4fdb3d4ea6b555a82832dea0e0fc13294774b9140ebbfac4ff32195981775aff980efb48ea794b6ac43b7f14295149369c7e9271089a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/204240/cdc_204240_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.17 MB ]