Integration of biomonitoring data into risk assessment

Biomonitoring for environmental chemicals in human biological media has become an indispensible feature of the chemical risk assessment landscape. While the relevance of biomonitoring data to exposure assessment is obvious, biomonitoring is also playing a critical role as a fundamental component of environmental epidemiology. In this respect, biomonitoring data are increasingly becoming a primary basis for hazard identification as well as dose-response assessment. Biomonitoring data can also provide powerful information on the efficacy of risk management efforts. As the process of chemical risk assessment moves from a chemical-by-chemical approach to a broader focus on the landscape of tens of thousands of chemicals in commerce, biomonitoring is playing an increasing role in the development of high-throughput computational exposure models as well as in the interpretation and application of high-throughput toxicity testing data in a risk context. Finally, biomonitoring data are central to the development and implementation of the concept of the exposome, which will be increasingly important in the assessment and management of chemical risks.