Environmental Health in Israel | 2014

Biomonitoring has many uses in the field of environmental health, including evaluation of exposure to environmental chemicals on the individual level, detection of changes at the cellular/molecular level prior to clinical diagnosis, establishment of baseline levels of exposure in the general population, comparison of exposure to environmental chemicals among different populations, and assessment of effectiveness of policies intended to reduce exposure to specific chemicals. National biomonitoring programs have been developed in many countries, including the US, Canada, France, Belgium, and Germany. Current Regulations As in most European countries, there is no legislation in Israel requiring human biomonitoring in the general population. The National Nutrition and Health Survey (MABAT), which could serve as a platform for human biomonitoring in Israel, is not required to do so. Occupational biomonitoring in Israel is mandated by law for workers potentially exposed to metals (cadmium, lead, arsenic, chromium, mercury, cobalt, and nickel), organophosphate and carbamate pesticides (cholinesterase monitoring in red blood cells), aromatic hydrocarbon solvents (benzene, toluene, styrene, and xylene), and halogenated solvents (trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, and 1,1,1-trichloroethane). Biomonitoring Chapter 8 - 57 - Biomonitoring