[Ethical considerations on the planning, assessment and management of biological monitoring data]

If a society aims at preserving its socio-ethical values, practices concerning the planning, assessment and management of biomonitoring tests in occupational health surveillance and research should not conflict with these values. Protecting both health and employment of every candidate or employee must be the aim of the occupational health physician. For assessing ethical acceptability of occupational health surveillance practices, their accuracy, relevance, need or necessity, and consequences must first be analysed. This analysis must constitute the basis for any societal democratic decision making process, which cannot be substituted for simply by individual informed consent. A physician trained in occupational health is the professionalism required for doing the testing and assuring the protection of the confidentiality of medical data, in accordance with strict legal and deontological rules. In biological monitoring studies and, in general, in any occupational health research settings, however, the principle of individual, really informed consent must be used, whenever possible. This may also considerably contribute to the committment of study subjects to the research goals. On the other hand, this committment would also contribute to promoting impartial research which is needed to improve the knowledge in occupational health and to increase health protection and prevention.