HUMAN TISSUE MONITORING AND SPECIMEN BANKING - OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT, RISK ASSESSMENT, AND EPIDEMIOLOGIC RESEARCH

A symposium on Human Tissue Monitoring and Specimen Banking: Opportuni ties for Exposure Assessment, Risk Assessment, and Epidemiologic Resea rch was held from 30 March to 1 April 1993 in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. There were 117 registered participants from 18 states and 5 foreign countries. The first 2 days featured 21 invited speakers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Diseas e Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Environmental Heal th Sciences, various other government agencies, and universities in th e United States, Canada, Germany, and Norway. The speakers provided a state-of-the-art overview of human exposure assessment techniques (esp ecially applications of biological markers) and their relevance to hum an tissue specimen banking. Issues relevant to large-scale specimen ba nking were discussed, including program design, sample design, data co llection, tissue collection, and ethical ramifications. The final grou p of presentations concerned practical experiences of major specimen b anking and human tissue monitoring programs in the United States and E urope. The symposium addressed the utility and research opportunities afforded by specimen banking programs for future research needs in the areas of human exposure assessment, risk assessment, and environmenta l epidemiology. The third day of the symposium consisted of a small wo rkshop convened to discuss and develop recommendations to the U.S. Env ironmental Protection Agency regarding applications and utility of lar ge-scale specimen banking, biological monitoring, and biological marke rs for risk assessment activities.