In the past two decades there has been an increasing public awareness of the hazards that exist from the contamination of the environment by toxic substances. 'Heavy metals' and the terrestrial environment are but one facet of the impact of toxic substances on the natural environment, and the use of biological materials for indicating the occurrence of, and continually monitoring the presence of, these materials is a specific topic which is of considerable interest to a diverse range of individuals, organisations and disciplines. It was our intention when we first en visaged this book that it should contain a description of a range of circumstances in which biological monitoring techniques have been employed in the terrestrial environment and that it should be seen as a practical text which dealt with the merits, shortcomings and suitability of biological monitoring materials. Monitoring is, however, a manifold process. It serves not only to provide information on past and present concentrations of toxic materials in various components of the environ ment, but also to provide information on the processes of environmental release, transport, accumulation and toxicity. Indeed, this may be one of the greatest virtues of biological monitoring over other forms of monitor ing. According to the skill of the staff employed in the monitoring procedure, the information that is accrued can have a vastly different value.

With regional, national, and global processes affecting both the structure and function of lakes and rivers, assessment methodology must encompass many attributes to evaluate the impact of these processes on water quality. Many of the changes in biological communities correlate to resource exploitation, nonpoint pollutant interactions, and habitat alteration - factors that can be missed by routine chemical sampling. This creates the need for ecologically-based approaches to this problem. Biological monitoring is a fundamental part of an ecologically-based approach. Biological Monitoring of Aquatic Systems brings together contributions by authors recognized as leaders in the development and utilization of biological monitoring techniques for freshwater ecosystems. It provides a conceptual framework for the use of biological monitoring to assess the environmental health of freshwater resources. Biological monitoring is an important part of any water quality assessment program. Biological Monitoring of Aquatic Systems provides you with an understanding of water resources. It includes discussions concerning historical development, ecological basis, experimental design characteristics, case studies, and future concerns. As efforts to maintain and restore the world's water resources intensify, the need to develop accurate methods to assess the health of these resources becomes critical.

This definitive source provides practicing professionals and students in the occupational, environmental, and public health and safety fields with the functional basics of biological monitoring. The author examines how environmental exposures to particular chemicals are related to concentrations of markers in body tissues and fluids. Biological Monitoring integrates the applied sciences of industrial/environmental hygiene, epidemiology, public health, occupational medicine, toxicology, biochemistry, and analytical chemistry with the basic sciences to interpret the connections between exposures and lifestyle/environmental influences, and their effects on humans. This comprehensive introduction provides dependable, detailed coverage of: * monitoring for harmful substances in the workplace * the benefits and limitations of testing for critical levels of toxic materials in bodily tissues and fluids * state-of-the-art developments in biological monitoring * a wide variety of toxic chemicals and selected physical agents * immunoassays * monitoring for HIV and AIDS * importance of exposure routes * the most up-to-date methods of health and medical surveillance * the interpretation of adduct concentrations * biological exposure indices * biological monitoring of pesticides * biological monitoring in the home and around hazardous waste sites * and much more This essential, compelling guide is the only inclusive and thorough introduction available. Biological Monitoring's rigorous, accessible, interdisciplinary approach makes this an invaluable reference and text for industrial and environmental hygienists, physicians, pharmacists, nurses, epidemiologists, toxicologists, laboratory technicians, chemical engineers, science graduate students, and the environmentally concerned.

The bestselling resource on industrial chemical assessment just got better. A practical guide to biological monitoring for industrial chemical exposure assessment, the THIRD EDITION of INDUSTRIAL CHEMICAL EXPOSURE: GUIDELINES FOR BIOLOGICAL MONITORING has been completely revised to include the latest developments in the field. In addition to an update of each chapter, major revisions have been made to take into consideration new information available since the publication of the second edition. SEE WHAT'S NEW IN THE THIRD EDITION: Major changes to the sections on lead, benzene, trichloroethylene, and dimethylformamide Fourteen completely new topics: bromine, molybdenum, perchlorate, platinum, n-heptane, ethene, 1,3-butadiene trimethylbenzene, naphthalene, terpenes, acrylamide, pesticides, tetrahydrofuran, methyl tertiarybutyl ether, n-nitrosodiethylamine Discussion of the metabolic fate of chemicals Increased information on the threshold of adverse effects levels Development of biological monitoring methods for assessing the internal dose of additional chemicals This authoritative book summarizes what is known about biological monitoring for inorganic, organic and organometallic substances. It provides a summary table with practical recommendations, giving you quick and easy access to the data. With INDUSTRIAL CHEMICAL EXPOSURE: GUIDELINES FOR BIOLOGICAL MONITORING you will understand the objectives of biological monitoring, the types of biological monitoring methods, their advantages and limitations, as well as practical aspects that must be considered before initiating a biological monitoring program.

Biological monitoring of running waters is a scientifically and economically valid approach for surveys and monitoring programmes to assess the water quality. Biological Monitoring of Rivers is a timely, up-to-date book that includes a good number of practical how-to-do chapters.Up-to-date assessment of biological water monitoringPractical how-to-do chapters help the practitionerProvides a broad survey of methods uses inside and outside the EUGives perspectives for future applications.

This document is the result of a conference on "Biological Monitoring of Metals" held in Rochester, June 2-6, 1986, organized jointly by the Environmental Health Sciences Center of the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Rochester, NY, and the Scientific Committee on the Toxicology of Metals within the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) at the Karolinska Institute and the National (Swedish) Institute of Environmental Medicine and the University of Umea, Sweden. The aim of the Conference was to define and evaluate the scientific basis for the biological monitoring of metals. The conference was co-sponsored by the World Health Organization through its International Program on Chemical Safety and received substantial encouragement and support from the Swedish Work Environmental Fund and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This was the second conference organized jointly by the Scientific Committee on the Toxicology of Metals and The Toxicology Division of the University of Rochester. The previous joint conference was held in 1982 on the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity of Metals. In addition, conferences have been organized by each group (see Appendices A and B). Several of these conferences are specially relevant to the topic of the current conference. These include the joint conference mentioned above and the conferences on dose-effect and dose-response relationship held in Tokyo in 1974 and on accumulation of metals held in Buenos Aires in 1972.

This guide covers the general basics of biological monitoring from the perspective of a field industrial hygienist and also constitutes a field manual for the trainee industrial hygienist. The guide is also suitable for undergraduate students because it contains a slide show and question and answer section: twenty case studies and 118-slide PowerPoint presentation on CD are included