Human biomonitoring is used to estimate exposure to environmental chemicals by measuring the chemical, its metabolites, or reaction products in biological specimens. Since 2007, the biomonitoring component of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) has measured over 250 chemicals in blood, urine and/or pooled serum. The CHMS is an ongoing national survey with data collected in two-year cycles.
More information on the full survey can be found on the Statistics Canada website (statcan.gc.ca/chms). Specific to the biomonitoring component, general information on the survey design, fieldwork, laboratory and statistical analyses, and considerations for data interpretation can be found in the reports on Human Biomonitoring of Environmental Chemicals in Canada (canada.ca/biomonitoring). Biomonitoring data are presented for each chemical summarized by biological matrix, cycle, sex and age group.