Reporting results of human biomonitoring of environmental chemicals to study participants: a comparison of approaches followed in two Canadian studies.

Biomonitoring is used increasingly as an indicator and quantitative measure of exposure; however, there is a large gap in interpreting and communicating biomonitoring results to study participants. Two separate, national biomonitoring initiatives are under way in Canada; the household recruitment-based Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) and the clinic recruitment-based Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) Study. The CHMS provides participants with the option to receive all their results, but this option is not provided to MIREC participants.

Canadian Health Measures Survey: ethical, legal and social issues.

This article describes how the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) of Statistics Canada has addressed the ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) arising from the survey. The development of appropriate procedures and the rationale behind them are discussed in detail for some specific ELSI. Health Canada's Research Ethics Board, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and the Data Access and Control Services Division at Statistics Canada, provided advice to the CHMS on ELSI.

Canadian Health Measures Survey pre-test: design, methods, results.

The Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) pre-test was conducted to provide information about the challenges and costs associated with administering a physical health measures survey in Canada. To achieve the specific objectives of the pre-test, protocols were developed and tested, and methods for household interviewing and clinic testing were designed and revised. The cost, logistics and suitability of using fixed sites for the CHMS were assessed.