About CDC’s Biomonitoring Program

Using advanced laboratory science and innovative techniques, the Division of Laboratory Sciences’ Biomonitoring Program in the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been in the forefront of efforts to assess people’s exposure to environmental chemicals.

CDC’s highly trained laboratory scientists have built on more than three decades of experience in measuring chemicals directly in people’s blood or urine, a process known as biomonitoring. Biomonitoring measurements are the most health-relevant assessments of exposure because they measure the amount of the chemical that actually gets into people from all environmental sources (e.g., air, soil, water, dust, or food) combined. With a few exceptions, it is the concentration of the chemical in people that provides the best exposure information to evaluate the potential for adverse health effects.