RECENT POLICY AND TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN BIOLOGICAL MONITORING IN THE UNITED-KINGDOM

In 1996 the United Kingdom's Health and Safety Executive introduced bi ological monitoring guidance values for six substances, butoxyethanol, N,N-dimethylacetamide, lindane, methylene-bis(2-chloroaniline), mercu ry and methylenedianiline. These guidance values were set as either he alth-based values or hygiene-based values calculated according to the 90th percentile (benchmark concept). Recent technical developments fro m the Health and Safety Laboratory are described in this paper and inc lude: (i) the use of breath analysis as a useful non-invasive routine monitoring technique; (ii) flow cytometry as a means for measuring dif ferent patterns of immune cell activation from workers exposed to resp iratory sensitisers when compared with those exposed to chemical irrit ants; (iii) the use of molecular techniques to explore the possible ro le of individual susceptibility in the development and severity of glo merulonephritis; (iv) the development of expert systems for predicting the skin permeability of chemicals, and respiratory and skin sensitis ation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.