Analyses of Hazardous Substances in Biological Materials

Since exposure to hazardous substances, commonplace in the modern industrial environment, can lead to adverse effects on health, statutory limits are established for the levels of such substances in the workplace air and of the substances themselves or their metabolites in the body fluids of workers. Therefore reliable analytical methods are required to determine the levels of such substances in air and in body fluids (usually blood or urine). The Analytical Chemistry Group of the Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area has established new methods and standardized old ones for the biological monitoring of numerous industrial chemicals. The analytical reliability and reproducibility of each of the methods has been determined by the author and confirmed by at least one examiner. The methods are therefore suitable for checking adherence to statutory limits such as the German BAT values (Biological Tolerance Values for Working Materials) and the American BEI values (Biological Exposure Indices) and for reliable detection of dangerous substances in the tissues of individual workers.