Biomonitoring California - Measuring chemicals in californians

Biomonitoring California a state government program that measures environmental chemicals in California residents. The program has measured many chemicals in California residents. Among the chemicals detected by the Program are those in consumer products, for example phthalates and heavy metals, and persistent chemicals, some of which have being banned. For example some flame retardants that are a widely -- were widely used in furniture and electronics like that penta- and octa-polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, and some pesticides that have also been banned, such as DDT. Since 2007, the Biomonitoring California labs have made significant advances in their ability to measure chemicals in people. The Program's labs can now measure or analyze approximately 100 different chemicals in blood or urine and are developing materials and methods to test for even more chemicals of particular importance to California. Biomonitoring California has tested more than 700 Californians so far. This figure shows that the number of chemicals our labs can measure has increased more than five fold over the past four years. The number of chemical classes is increasing, as are the number of chemicals in each class. New capabilities added since 2007 include phthalates, perfluorinated chemicals and some pesticides, environmental phenols, and brominated and chlorinated flame retardants. We think this is a -- this bar chart really illustrates the dramatic abilities that the labs have developed over the past few years. Our laboratory capability and capacity are continuing to expand. And the Program has launched a pilot study in the Central Valley with the help of Kaiser, with participants selected to approximately represent the adult population of that area. The pilot project will help us to build capacity and to produce data representative of the region's and the state's general population. Biomonitoring California findings will be critical for informing State programs to protect the public from harmful chemicals and making those efforts more targeted and cost effective.