Future research directions for evaluating human genetic and cancer risk from environmental exposures

The utility of biomarkers for evaluating the genotoxicity of environmental exposures is well documented. Biomarkers of both exposure and effect provide bases for assessing human-genotoxicant interactions and may be indicative of future disease risk. At present, there is little information on the predictive value of these assays for either a population or the individuals tested. This paper describes some aspects of biomarker assays, the possible use of susceptibility measures in biomonitoring protocols, and the need for evaluation of disease relevance. A population study involving epidemiologists, geneticists, toxicologists, statisticians, and physicians is proposed to determine the disease relevance of these biomarkers.