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I'm Dr. Paul Gully, a public health physician and Senior Medical Advisor at Health Canada.
What I'd like to talk to you about today is the Canadian Health Measures Survey, biomonitoring and what this all means to you.
So biomonitoring is the measurement of chemicals or what they break down to in people.
The measurements are usually taken in blood and in urine and they
indicate how much the chemical is actually present within our bodies.
Biomonitoring initiatives such as this are actually an integral part of the Government of Canada's
Chemicals Management Plan which was put into place in the year 2006.
Not only does this biomonitoring data provide us with a better understanding of our exposure to environmental chemicals,
but it'll also tell us whether that exposure in fact is changing over time,
but in addition for us it actually tells us whether the actions
were taken to reduce the risk of these chemicals in fact working.
Well we're collecting information on the general health and lifestyles of a sample of Canadians,
but in addition we're collecting information about exposure to environmental chemicals.
We're working to do this in partnership with Statistics Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The information that has just been released is from the first comprehensive biomonitoring survey in Canada.
So what do the results tell us?
For lead, for example, the current results tell us that the levels in Canadians have declined substantially since the 1970s.
But, for the majority of substances that were measured, the results are actually only starting point
and give us a baseline from which we can look at future results,
because this is the first time we've actually measured them in a national survey.
But also the results of the surveys will tell us whether we have to do more research on the health effects,
the effects on Canadians as a result of exposure to the chemicals.
Chemicals are a really important part of all of our lives so what we're doing is ensuring that we continue
to benefit from the chemicals at the same time to minimize the risks.
If you want to know more information about biomonitoring or the Canadian Health Measures Survey
you can go to the special page on the Health Canada web site.