Additional Process for Reporting Biomonitoring Results for the U.S. Population

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added a new process to make biomonitoring exposure information for the U.S. population more rapidly available to the public and scientific community. CDC has substantially expanded the number of biomonitoring measurements used to characterize the exposure of the U.S. population to environmental chemicals. The number of chemicals measured in participants for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004 has risen to 250, compared with the 148 for NHANES 2001-2002 and summarized in the Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. A complete list of the chemicals that CDC is measuring in selected participants for NHANES 2003-2004 is shown in Table 1.

This large number of chemicals means that some chemical measurements are ready for release before others. To expedite the release of biomonitoring exposure information as soon as it is ready, a new reporting process will be used to supplement the periodic National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (the Report).

This additional reporting process is to enable CDC investigators to publish results for the U.S. population for priority chemical groups (e.g., polybrominated diphenyl ethers, perfluorinated compounds) in the peer-reviewed literature as soon as possible after the chemical measurements for that group are completed. So, for example, CDC investigators separately published results for polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the peer-review literature to describe the exposure of the U.S. population to this group of chemicals. CDC investigators will also separately publish results describing population exposure to other priority chemicals.

As soon as they are available, these publications (or their citations) will be posted on this Web site, which also has the most recent version of the Report. This additional reporting process for priority chemical groups will result in faster reporting of this biomonitoring exposure information to the public and scientific community. This Web site will be a one-stop source for CDC's latest biomonitoring information that addresses exposure of the U.S. population to environmental chemicals.

CDC investigators prioritized the following chemical groups for publication in the peer-reviewed literature: polybrominated diphenyl ethers, perfluorinated compounds, environmental phenols (including bisphenol A), and speciated forms of arsenic. Publications on other chemical groups will follow.

CDC will continue periodic release of the Report, which will present results of chemical measurements for all environmental chemicals measured in NHANES participants. A firm date for release of the next National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals has not been set, but current expectation is that data will be released in early 2009. Advanced notification of the exact release date of the next Report will be provided on this Web site.

Table 1

List of chemicals measured in selected participants for NHANES 2003-2004
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