11. CHEMICALS: CDC gives $5M for state biomonitoringprograms (09/10/2009)

Sara Goodman , E&E reporter

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that $5 million will be made available to three states to improve their biomonitoring programs.

Biomonitoring, which tests blood and urine samples for different chemicals, can help determine exactly how chemicals in the environment are absorbed by people.

"It's the way to measure how things in the environment actually get into people's bodies," said Nancy Buermeyer, senior policy strategist at the Breast Cancer Fund, which has called for greater federal support of state biomonitoring programs. "It's the most direct way to understand how the environment is impacting people. It's another step to what are the health impacts."

Measuring the levels of exposure makes biomonitoring the most accurate tool for assessing chemical absorption, said Howard Frumkin, director of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health.

"Biomonitoring data improves health officials' ability to make timely and appropriate health decisions by reducing the uncertainty in assessing levels of human exposure to environmental chemicals," Frumkin said in a statement.

California will receive $2.7 million, while New York will get $1 million and Washington $1.3 million. Thirty-three states applied to CDC for funding, either individually or in partnership, and the fund will continue to push for increased federal grants, Buermeyer said.

The state-specific funding is meant to allow states to perform statewide biomonitoring assessments and focus on communities or groups where chemical exposure is a concern, CDC said. For example, states can investigate targeted exposure in communities and assess the effectiveness of state public health actions aimed at reducing exposures to specific chemicals of concern.