The ISES Europe Human Biomonitoring (HBM) Working Group has recently published a vision paper highlighting the growing importance of Human Biomonitoring (HBM) in supporting the implementation of the REACH Regulation. The paper, "Towards an Enhanced Role for Human Biomonitoring in REACH Regulation: Current Landscape and Future Prospects", explores how HBM can strengthen chemical risk assessment and regulatory decision-making. Towards an enhanced role for human biomonitoring in REACH regulation: Current landscape and future prospects - ScienceDirect
To support broader dissemination of the key messages, two summary documents have been developed for different stakeholder groups and are available for download below.
Summary for Regulators
The regulator-focused summary outlines how HBM can enhance regulatory decision-making by providing direct evidence of real-world internal exposure to chemicals. It demonstrates how HBM can reduce uncertainties in exposure assessment, evaluate the effectiveness of risk management measures, support REACH Restriction and Authorisation processes, and contribute to the EU’s "One Substance, One Assessment" initiative. The document also identifies current barriers to wider implementation and proposes actions to enable the systematic integration of HBM into REACH processes.
Summary for Industry
The industry-focused summary describes how companies can use HBM as a complementary exposure assessment approach to better understand worker exposure under actual conditions of use. The document highlights the value of HBM for substances with significant dermal uptake, low volatility, multiple exposure routes, or where exposure modelling involves significant uncertainty. It also provides ten decision criteria to help determine when HBM should be used as the exposure assessment approach at workplace.
Why It Matters
Together, these publications emphasize that HBM provides a unique and scientifically robust approach for assessing actual chemical exposure by integrating all relevant exposure routes, including inhalation, dermal absorption, and ingestion. HBM can increase confidence in risk assessments, support evidence-based regulatory actions, and enhance the protection of workers and the general population.
FAIREHR will continue to support regulators, industry, and researchers in the effective implementation and interpretation of human biomonitoring data, helping stakeholders translate scientific evidence into informed and practical chemical risk-management decisions.