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Biomonitoring in Califoria

Ever wonder what sort of chemicals might be floating around in your body? If you live in California, you could soon find out.

A bill that would create a human biomonitoring program for California residents has passed the state Senate and is now awaiting a final hearing on its way to becoming law. The bill would create a program allowing residents to voluntarily submit blood, urine and breast milk samples for testing. The tests would measure the amount and type of chemicals present. Researchers would also try to match these chemical levels with the person’s exposures, such as household chemicals or proximity to hazardous chemical sites.

A similar bill passed in 2005, but was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who promised to create an administrative program for the same purpose. That program never materialized, hence the reintroduction of SB 1379. The bill must pass out of committee by August 18, pass the full legislature by August 31 and then has one month to be signed into law (or vetoed) by the governor.

If passed, the study would also help state officials determine if emissions reductions programs were working, because body burdens could be monitored to see if human chemical levels were dropping.

Previous biomonitoring studies have found as many as 455 chemicals present in human blood. Chemicals found in flame retardants and plastic products, as well as pollution from the air, ground and water, make their way into our bodies when we eat, drink and breathe. They accumulate in our bodies from the time we are growing in our mothers’ wombs, are passed down through breast milk and then we, in turn, pass them to our offspring. The California biomonitoring study would attempt to track the levels of toxic chemicals in people’s bodies over time and link them to potentially harmful causes and effects.

For more information on this legislation, click here.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org