Urinary -Muconic Acid is Not a Reliable Biomarker for Low-level Environmental and Occupational Benzene Exposures.

Background: Benzene is a known occupational and environmental pollutant. Its urinary metabolite , -muconic acid (-MA) has been introduced by some environmental and occupational health regulatory associations as a biological index for the assessment of benzene exposure; however, recently, doubts have been raised about the specificity of -MA for low-level benzene exposures. In the present study, we investigated the association between urinary levels of -MA and inhalational exposure to benzene in different exposure groups.