US EPA

2202063 

Journal Article 

BIOLOGICAL MONITORING 

Dowd, RM 

1984 

1 

Environmental Science & Technology
ISSN: 0013-936X
EISSN: 1520-5851 

HMTC/84/0001692 

215A 

215A; 1984 

English 

HMTC Biological monitoring is being reestablished as a method of measuring the effects of chemicals in humans or ecological systems. There are two ways to characterize biological monitoring; indication of the level of human exposure to a chemical substance and its effect, and the measurement of nonhuman exposure to certain substances and their effects (e.g., effect of PCBs on aquatic life). This second characterization is being used extensively in research. One area of investigation is the bioassay of effluents. An example is a LC50 test which quantifies the amount of effluent that will destroy 50% of the inhabitants being tested. Chronic aquatic toxicity tests utilize the method of nonhuman exposure, and is related to the reproduction statistics of water species. Another area of activity is the measurement of the chemical effects in aquatic organisms on a physiological subcellular level. The field of human biological monitoring has broadened because of the increased utilization of risk assessment. The Office of Research and Development under EPA is putting a great deal of time and money into the area, including research in field-validated bioassay techniques, toxic treatability evaluations of specific industries, and the relationship between the exposure of a person to an ambient level of a substance through food, air, or water, and the amount concentrated in his organs and tissues.