Human Milk Biomonitoring Data : Interpretation And Risk Assessment Issues
Biomonitoring data can, under certain conditions, be used to describe potential risks to human health (for example, blood lead levels used to determine children's neurodevelopmental risk). At present, there are very few chemical exposures at low levels for which sufficient data exist to state with confidence the link between levels of environmental chemcials in a person's body his or her risk o adverse health effects. Human milk biomonitoring presents additinal complications. Human milk can be used to obtain information on both the levels of environmental chemicals in the mother and her infant's exposure to an environmental chemical. However, in terms of the health of rhemother, there are little to no extant data that can be used to link levels of most environmental chemicals in human milk to a particular health outcome inthe mother. This is because, traditionally, risks are estinated based on dose, rather than on levels of environmental chemicals in the body, and the relationship between dose and human tissue levels is complex.
On the other hand, for the infant, some information on dose is available because the infant is exposed to environmental chemicals in milk as a "dose" from which risk estimates can be derived. However, the traditional risk assessment approach is not designed to consider the benefits to the infant associated with breastfeeding and is complicated by the relatively short-term exposures to the infant from breastfeeding. A further complexity derives from the addition of in utero exposures, which complicates interpretation of epidemiological researh on health outcomes of breastfeeding infants. Thus, the concept of "risk assessment" as it applies to human milk biomonitoring is not straightforward, and methodologies fo undertaking this type of assessment have not yet been fully developed.
This article describes the deliberations of the panel convened for the Technical Workshop on Human Milk Survellance and Biomonitoring for Environmental Chemicals int he United States, held at the Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, on several issues related to risk assessment and human milk biomonitoring. Discussion of these topice and the thoughts and conclusions of the panel are described im this article.
On the other hand, for the infant, some information on dose is available because the infant is exposed to environmental chemicals in milk as a "dose" from which risk estimates can be derived. However, the traditional risk assessment approach is not designed to consider the benefits to the infant associated with breastfeeding and is complicated by the relatively short-term exposures to the infant from breastfeeding. A further complexity derives from the addition of in utero exposures, which complicates interpretation of epidemiological researh on health outcomes of breastfeeding infants. Thus, the concept of "risk assessment" as it applies to human milk biomonitoring is not straightforward, and methodologies fo undertaking this type of assessment have not yet been fully developed.
This article describes the deliberations of the panel convened for the Technical Workshop on Human Milk Survellance and Biomonitoring for Environmental Chemicals int he United States, held at the Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, on several issues related to risk assessment and human milk biomonitoring. Discussion of these topice and the thoughts and conclusions of the panel are described im this article.
Impact/Purpose
journal article
Citation
LAKIND, J. S., R. L. BRENT, M. L. DOURSON, B. FOOS, S. KACEW, G. KOREN, B. R. SONAWANE, A. J. TARZIAN, AND K. UHL. Human Milk Biomonitoring Data : Interpretation And Risk Assessment Issues. Part A. Sam Kacew (ed.), JOURNAL OF TOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH. Taylor & Francis, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, 68(20):1713-1769, (2005).