Expanding the role of environmental immunoassays: technical capabilities, regulatory issues, and communication vehicles Original Research Article

Large numbers of samples are commonplace in environmental monitoring and human exposure assessment studies. When the goals of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development (sound methods, integrated with human and ecological health, common sense approaches, and cost-effective technologies) are coupled with the requirements of these large-scale studies, the importance of methods like immunoassays is evident. In this paper, regulatory issues, technical advances, and communication methods are discussed which have contributed to the continued success of immunoassays in environmental monitoring and human exposure studies.