Biomonitoring Equivalents and Health Canada

A very recent article in Pesticide and Toxic Chemicals News discussed current research being carried out on biomonitoring equivalents ("BE"). In a nutshell, BEs rely on information about how a body absorbs and breaks down a substance to translate an established safe dose (e.g., maximum acceptable daily oral exposure of Chemical A) into a corresponding biomonitoring value (e.g., the concentration of Chemical A in urine). The development of BEs would allow for a more meaningful analysis of biomonitoring data gathered in programs such as the Canadian Health Measures Survey (Statistics Canada) or the Toxic Nation campaign (Environmental Defence). In particular, it would permit the biomonitoring data to be compared to established safe dose levels established by regulators under traditional risk assessment. The article notes that Health Canada is very interested in BEs, and in the midst of a three year project to develop BEs (to be released next summer). The project is being undertaken by Summit Toxicology, together with the University of Montreal, University of Victoria and University of Ottawa. According to the article, the Health Canada BE study has examined four phthalates, an insecticide, arsenic, BPA and triclosan.