Recently, conflicts and challenges have emerged regarding environmental justice and research ethics for some indigenous communities. Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) responded to community requests for breast milk biomonitoring and conceived the Breast Milk Pilot Study (BMPS). Despite having community support and federal and private funding, the BMPS remains incomplete due to repeated d...

Human biomonitoring has evolved beyond margins to ascertain exposure-response relationship in environmental associated human diseases. As occupational ailments continue to dominate global concerns, biomonitoring strategies have evolved better in terms of evaluating health risks associated with systemic uptake from chronic (long-term) environment exposures. Even though contributions of acute tox...

Concentrations of Al, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb in Laurus nobilis L. were examined for assessment of the impact of heavy metal exposure during winter periods, since these metals have the highest toxic potential. In this study, leaf (washed and unwashed), bark and branch samples of L. nobilis and soil samples were collected from 13 different localities, belonged to three stations. In conjunction with a...

Biomonitoring is no more than a toolbox of techniques that we can use to keep a check on the integrity (or 'health') of aquatic ecosystems. Organisms that live their whole lives in water would not be present if conditions at any time during their lives had been too poor to sustain them. They can thus provide information on the environmental conditions that must have pertained in the river since...

Two herbicides, 2,4-D and triclopyr esters (application ratio 1.6:1 acid equivalents) were applied as a tank mix by a crew of 8 backpack sprayer applicators, a mixer/loader, and a field supervisor. The crew was employed in a conifer release program in northern California during the summer of 2002. Biomonitoring (urine, 24 h) utilized 2,4-D and triclopyr (a.e.) as rapidly excreted exposure bioma...

The potential for exposure of employees to polybrominated dibenzofurans (PBDFs) and dibenzo-p-dioxins (PBDDs) during extrusion blending of resins containing decabromodiphenyl ether was established through previous air monitoring (area samples) and biomonitoring studies. The findings presented herein are further biomonitoring results for 42 employees and immunological tests for exposed and refer...

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...

Amphibians are undergoing large population declines in many regions around the world. As environmental pollution from both agricultural and urban sources has been implicated in such declines, there is a need for a biomonitoring approach to study potential impacts on this vulnerable class of organism. This study assessed the use of infrared (IR) spectroscopy as a tool to detect changes in severa...