The first step in reducing the body burden of these pollutants is eliminating or phasing out their production.

"There is a cumulative effect, and we watch for anything that adds to the body burden," she said.

A series of studies testing for the presence of chemicals in people's bodies is known as body burden.

The inhalation of airborne uranium particles could lead to "unacceptable body burdens".

The study measured what scientists call the "body burden," or the number of pollutants stored in various human tissues and organs.

"The body burden just keeps accumulating over our lifetime, and children today are exposed to so much more than we were."

This gives the possibility to measure body burden of dioxins by analysing breast milk.

Biological monitoring measures the body burden of a pollutant but not the source from whence it came.

Blood lead levels are an indicator mainly of recent or current lead exposure, not of total body burden.

The most sensitive effects are caused at body burdens relatively close to those reported in humans.