Illinois § 5

§ 5.

Findings and purposes. (a) The General Assembly finds all of the following: (1) An estimated 100,000 chemicals are on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Substances Control Act inventory and thousands are in commerce today in the United States. (2) These chemicals are regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in accordance with the Toxic Substances Control Act. (3) With advancements in analytical chemistry, scientists can now detect minute quantities of chemicals in humans. (4) Biomonitoring is one method for assessing human exposure to chemicals by measuring the chemicals or their breakdown products, known as metabolites, in human tissues or specimens, such as blood and urine. In studies conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), biomonitoring data has helped to identify chemicals found in the environment and in human tissues, monitor changes in human exposure to those chemicals, and investigate the distribution of exposure among the general population. The CDC has developed standardized and validated analytical methods for measuring substances in humans. The CDC's National Exposure Report provides statistically valid distribution measurements of chemicals in the U.S. population, including specific age, gender, and ethnic groups. CDC continues to develop new validated methods, and as they do so additional chemicals are being reported. (b) The purpose of this Act is for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Great Lakes Center for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health to conduct an Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Feasibility Study (Study) that proposes the best way to establish an Illinois Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program (Program) that will do all of the following: (1) monitor the presence and concentration of designated chemicals in a representative sample of the population of this State; (2) produce biomonitoring studies that provide data for scientists, researchers, public health personnel, and community members to explore potential linkages between chemical exposure and health concerns; and (3) support Illinois public health by establishing trends in chemical exposures, validating modeling and survey methods, supporting epidemiological studies, identifying highly exposed communities, addressing the data gaps between chemical exposures and specific health outcomes, informing health responses to unanticipated emergency exposures, assessing the effectiveness of current regulations, and setting priorities for research. (Source: P.A. 95-74, eff. 1-1-08.)