MAK-Collection for Occupational Health and Safety. Part IV: Biomonitoring. (was "Analysis of Hazardous Substances in Biological Materials" until Vol. 9).

Much more attention is paid to occupational and environmental health today than in the past. This is largely due to the availability of reliable analytical methods that are adaptable to routine use and can be employed to monitor the workplace and evaluate the health risk of exposed persons. This volume comprises methods for the determination in urine or blood of the following hazardous compounds frequently encountered in occupational environments: antimony, aromatic carbocyclic acids, barium, strontium, titanium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, cyanide, erythrocyte porphyrins, fluoride, hydrazine, lead, mercury, phenols and aromatic alcohols, and selenium. Each method has been carefully evaluated with regard to accuracy, precision, detection limits, sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, each method is described with sufficient detail so that it can be easily duplicated by staff of any appropriately equipped laboratory. Volume 1 of the series (ISBN 3-527-26095-1) on further hazardous compounds was published in 1985 and is still available.

Biological monitoring has proved extremely valuable in assessing the health risk of persons exposed to hazardous chemical substances in the environment or at the workplace. The chemical compounds are generally determined in body fluids. They are present in trace or ultratrace concentrations. Specific and extremely sensitive methods of chemical analysis are necessary to separate these substances from the biological matrix and to determine them precisely. This series contains 12 standardized analytical methods. All methods are suitable for routine use. They meet exceptionally high standards of reliability and reproducibility. Considerable emphasis is placed on sample collection methods and on analytical quality control.