Derivation of Health Based Human Biomonitoring Values for Pcb in Human Blood Samples

Introduction Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent synthetic organochlorines. Due to their lipophilicity they accumulate in the food chain and in human lipid tissue and can cause a variety of dose-dependent adverse health effects in different tissues and organs. Although their prohibition in the early 1980ies led to a significant decrease of the body burden of the population, PCBs are still widespread due to their high persistency in the environment and may still be emitted, e. g. in case of improper recycling activities. Through Human Biomonitoring studies PCB concentrations in human blood have been measured since several decades to observe the body burden of these substances in the general population as well as in specifically exposed subgroups. Nevertheless until 2012 there was no approved health based guidance value in Germany, which would have allowed environmental health practitioners and epidemiologists to interpret PCB-Human Biomonitoring data according to its relevance for human health. Health based guidance values for Human Biomonitoring in Germany (HBM values) are regularly derived by the German “Human Biomonitoring Commission” according to the knowledge and judgment of its members and published by the Federal Environment Agency. Per definition of the HBM-Commission the HBM II value marks the “concentration in the body matrix of a substance above which relevant adverse health effects may occur, and hence immediate action to reduce exposure must be taken and expert care in environmental medicine will be required”, whereas the HBM I value represents the concentration "below which [...] no adverse health effect should be expected." 1