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In analytical chemistry, biomonitoring is the measurement of the body burden of toxic chemical compounds, elements, or their metabolites, in biological substances, including humans. Often, these measurements are done in blood and urine samples.

In 2001, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began to publish its biennial National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, which reports a statistically representative sample of the U.S. population. The Environmental Working Group has also conducted biomonitoring studies and since 1999 the CDC has measured 219 chemicals in people’s blood or urine across the United States.

The term, Chemical Body Burden refers to the hundreds of toxic chemicals that scientists have detected in the blood of human beings around the world. The medical phenomenon is a new one. Prior to World War II and the chemical revolution, the majority of these chemicals did not exist. And while the chemical revolution has afforded (and continues to afford) society with many technological advances, this progress has come at a price. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

According to a 2009 study conducted by the Environmental Working Group in conjunction with Rachel’s Network, 9 out of 10 randomly selected samples of umbilical cord blood tested positive for BPA, an industrial petrochemical produced by the millions of tons annually to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. BPA has been implicated in a lengthening list of serious chronic disorders, including: cancer, cognitive and behavioral impairments, endocrine system disruption, reproductive and cardiovascular system abnormalities, diabetes, asthma and obesity.

In addition to BPA, there were another 231 chemicals found in the blood of the newborns during the EWG study. Legendary journalist, Bill Moyers, also had his own medical samples tested for a documentary film, Trade Secrets, and discovered 84 chemical substances in his own blood, including dioxins, PCBS, and the endocrine disrupting phthalate DEHP. The health effects of these chemicals mixed into the blood like a toxic soup remain unknown.

The reason for chemical body burden is simple: an estimated 42 billion pounds of chemicals enter American commerce daily, according to the University of California Berkeley—enough to fill up 623,000 tanker trucks every day, a string of trucks that could straddle the United States if placed end to end. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has required testing on less than 200 of those pollutants and banned only five chemicals since the agency’s creation in 1970.

According to the Endocrine Society, which is made up of 14,000 hormone researchers and medical specialists in more than 100 countries, “even infinitesimally low levels of exposure (to chemicals and other pollutants)… may cause endocrine or reproductive abnormalities… Surprisingly, low doses may even exert more potent effects than higher doses.”

The American Medical Association Board of Delegates has called on the federal government to minimize the public’s exposure to BPA and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The Endocrine Society, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have advanced the measure.

New Jersey Senator, Frank Lautenberg has introduced the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 and The Kid Safe Chemical Act that aims to replace the moribund Toxic Substances Control Act, which grandfathered approximately 62,000 chemicals into the market, with no testing or reviews, chemicals that include neurotoxin ethyl benzene, among others.