Environmental chemicals can be found in the air, water, food, soil, dust and in consumer products. Biomonitoring data provide information on the total amount of environmental chemicals that enter the body from all possible sources by measuring environmental chemicals or their breakdown products (metabolites) in human specimens (such as blood or urine).
Biomonitoring data is often used to help identify and assess:
- Background exposures in a population
- Changes in human exposures over time
- Effectiveness of prevention activities
- Differences in exposures between populations
- Exposure-related health problems
View the Dashboards
The dashboards contain the following:
- Organic and inorganic arsenic
- Metals
- Pesticide metabolites
Users of the dashboards can filter by: age, education, gender, income, and race/ethnicty. Some chemicals include additional filters as well. For example, aresenic includes a filter for diet and cadmium includes a filter for smoking/non-smoking.
Additional Information
The data presented in this display is intended to allow users to explore differences in exposures between statewide and national sample populations, using data from the 2010-2011 Washington Environmental Biomonitoring Survey (WEBS) and the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals for 2009-2010 and 2011-2012.
Please see these data notes for an explanation of WEBS and NHANES and how the data in the dashboards was collected. Major findings of the biomonitoring study are also explained in the notes.
Additional Resources
The California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program
CDC's Biomonitoring Summaries
CDC's National Biomonitoring Program
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fourth Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, Updated Tables, (March 2018). Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.