Biomonitoring of exposure to chemicals has been practiced for over half a century on a regular basis. During the last decade, however, the focus changed from occupational to environmental settings, requiring a different interpretative framework. Under the auspices of the European Centre for Ecology and Ecotoxicology (ECETOC) a framework was developed that allows to assess the relevance of any biomonitoring result to be interpreted reliably. If biomonitoring data is to be used for the evaluation of health risks of a substance, information is required on the analytical integrity of the data, the toxicokinetics of this substance, and its health effects in relation to (low) exposures. In addition, a weight-of-evidence needs to be used. The framework also identifies a number of data-gaps, several of which are addressed through the Long-range Research Initiative (LRI), an initiative of the global chemical industries (EU, USA, and Japan), which aims to help answering important questions in the application of biomonitoring data in human health risk assessment. (C) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
