The following documents are useful reference sources on biomonitoring:

American Council on Science and Health. 2003. Traces of Environmental Chemicals in the Human Body: Are They a Risk to Health?, New York, NY.

A non-technical introduction to understanding the relationships between trace chemicals in the body and health. (Executive Summary is online; paperback can be ordered, $5.)

Association of Public Health Laboratories. May 2004. Biomonitoring, Measuring Chemicals in People, Washington, DC.

The report explains (1) the importance of biomonitoring, which has been employed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for many years to help protect the public's health, and (2) the case for building biomonitoring capacity at the state level in addition to CDC.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2005. Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals. National Center for Environmental Health, Atlanta, GA.

The CDC biomonitoring reports provide an ongoing assessment of the U.S. population's exposure to environmental chemicals.

Mackinac Center for Public Policy. February 2008. The Opportunities and Limitations of Biomonitoring, Midland, MI.

A Policy Brief by Daland R. Juberg, James Bus and Diane S. Katz addresses what biomonitoring entails, current federal and state programs, benefits, limitations, the importance of avoiding alarmism and includes recommendations on standards for conducting biomonitoring studies and ensuring safeguards for releasing data to participants and the public.

McKay Jr., C.A., M. G. Holland, and L. S. Nelson, A Call To Arms For Medical Toxicologists: The Dose, Not The Detection, Makes The Poison. International Journal of Medical Toxicology 2003; 6(1): 1

Editorial by members of the American College of Medical Toxicology
on the appropriate uses of toxicological testing and the interpretation of
biomonitoring data.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), The New Environmental Health, 2003

A guide to understanding the complex relationship between human health and the environment. Includes discussion of natural and synthetic chemicals, epidemiology, testing, individual susceptibility and lifestyle factors.

Sexton, K., L. L. Needham, and J. L. Pirkle, Human Biomonitoring of Environmental Chemicals: Measuring chemicals in human tissues is the "gold standard" for assessing people's exposure to pollution. American Scientist 2004: 92 (January-February):38-45.

Illustrated article on the progress biomonitoring represents in measuring human exposure to natural and synthetic chemicals, what these data mean and CDC's increasingly sophisticated testing program. (Summary is online; full text available online to subscribers and in libraries.)