Usefulness of Human Biomonitoring for the Process of Risk Assessment of Exposure to Xenobiotics Including Dietary Intake Using as an Example the Exposure to Mercury
Abstract
Human biomonitoring is an efficient and cost-effective way to measure the level of exposure of the human body to xenobiotics. Its advantage is the integration of all exposure routes and sources, it reduces the number of assumptions that need to be done when estimating food consumption, the possibility of clarifying the human metabolism and mechanism of toxicity of contaminants, the possibility of its use in case of the majority of xenobiotics and the fact that it reflects the internal dose of the contaminant at any given point in time.
However, further harmonization is necessary in the area of human biomonitoring, to derive equivalents of markers of external exposure, for example, also addressing the ethical and political aspects of its application. Nevertheless, the overall benefits of human biomonitoring in the context of a comprehensive approach to risk assessment as a step in the desired direction in minimizing uncertainty and in approaching real exposure is unquestionable.