Measuring personal chemical exposures through biomonitoring: the experiences of research participants

Using a technique called human biomonitoring, scientists can now measure hundreds of environmental chemicals and/or their metabolites in human body fluids and tissues. In this article, I examine the experiences of 28 women who participated in two different types of biomonitoring studies and received personal exposure results. I show that although the women's experiences of biomonitoring differed and were shaped by the contexts in which biomonitoring occurred, there were also remarkable similarities across contexts. Most notably, through the receipt of personal biomonitoring data, all of the women came to view themselves as partially, if not entirely, responsible for their chemical exposures (past, present, and future). These are novel findings, which suggest that as scientists increasingly measure individuals' exposures to environmental chemicals found in common consumer products and food, the distinctions between environmental and lifestyle risks are being blurred; that is, environmental risks are increasingly experienced as lifestyle risks.