An update of issues regarding hair analysis of organic pollutants. In Toxicological Problems. (Book Chapter)

This paper presents a brief overview of all the published studies concerning hair analysis of organic pollutants associated with environmental and occupational exposure. Organic pollutants have an impact on human health after exposure to very low doses from environmental origin, food supply or occupational exposure, and these adverse health effects are still not known in depth. Dioxins, polychlorobiphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and of course pesticides are the main groups of the most commonly measured pollutants in hair. This study underlines the importance of analytical sensitivity in hair analysis and the expected increase for assessing people exposure in future epidemiological studies.