I just came across the Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its the most extensive monitoring study on the exposure of a human populaiton to chemicals that I’ve ever seen. 212 chemicals were analysed in human urine, serum and blood samples. All of them (if I didn’t get it wrong while flipping through the pages) were detected in at least some of the samples. Which is of course no real surprise, as the compounds were included in the study because of their relevance for human chemical exposure.
A wealth of additional information is given on the website dedicated to the report.
Unfortunately, as the report states on page 8:
Not all the chemicals in the Report are measured in the
same individuals. Therefore, it is not possible to determine
the fraction of all measured chemicals that were found at
detectable levels in a given person.
Meaning, that one cannot directly draw conclusions on an exposure to mixtures of these compounds. I need to check more closely whether it is possible to do that at least roughly. It would be a real pity, if such a wealth of data would only be analyzable from a single-compound perspective. I mean, let’s face it: although a discussion on the possible health effects of the deteced amounts of say styrene is certainly worthwhile – what does it say about the total health risks, when at the same time several dozens or even hundreds of other chemicals are present?
As a sidenote: 90% of the people had detectable levels of Bisphenol A in their blood. Although the mere presence of the compound of course does not allow the conclusion that the current situation is risky, the widespread occurrence of the compound certainly suggests strongly that it is worthwhile to invest more resources on the investigation of the low-level effects of BPA (see here).
Thomas
