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Background: The pan-Canadian Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) study was established to determine whether maternal environmental chemical exposures were associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in 2001 pregnant women. Objectives: The MIREC-Child Development (CD PLUS) study followed this cohort with the goal of assessing the potential effects of prenatal exposures on anthropometry and neurodevelopment in early childhood. Population: MIREC families with children between the ages of 15 months and 5 years who had agreed to be contacted for future research (n = 1459) were invited to participate in MIREC-CD PLUS which combines data collected from an online Maternal Self-Administered Questionnaire with biomonitoring and neurodevelopment data collected from two in-person visits. Preliminary Results: Between April 2013 and March 2015, 803 children participated in the Biomonitoring visit where we collected anthropometric measures, blood, and urine from the children. The Behavioural Assessment System for Children-2, Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function, MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories and the Communication subscale of the Adaptive Behaviour Scale from the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III are available on close to 900 children. There were 610 singleton children who completed in-person visits for neurodevelopment assessments including the Social Responsiveness Scale, Wechsler Preschool Primary Scale of Intelligence-III and NEuroPSYchological assessments (NEPSY). Currently, we are following the cohort into early adolescence to measure the impact of early life exposures on endocrine and metabolic function (MIREC-ENDO). Conclusions: Data collection for the MIREC-CD PLUS study is complete and analysis of the data continues. We are now extending the follow-up of the cohort into adolescence to measure the impact of early life exposures on endocrine and metabolic function (MIREC-ENDO). MIREC-CD PLUS is limited by loss to follow-up and the fact that mothers are predominately of higher socioeconomic status and 'White' ethnicity, which limits our generalizability. However, the depth of biomonitoring and clinical measures in MIREC provides a platform to examine associations of prenatal, infancy and childhood exposures with child growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a part of the Chemicals Management Plan launched in 2006, the Government of Canada is assessing and managing, where appropriate, the potential health and ecological risks associated with approximately 4300 substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (1999). Since that time, nearly 3000 substances have been assessed, with human biomonitoring (HBM) data playing an increasingly important role for some substances. Case studies are presented, including both inorganic and organic substances (i.e., selenium, triclosan, phthalates), which highlight the impact and overall role HBM has had in regulatory decision making in Canada for these three substances as well as criteria used in the application of HBM data in human health risk assessment. An overview of its limitations in terms of how and when HBM data can be applied, when assessing human health in a regulatory setting, is discussed as well as the role HBM data can play in priority setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]