We all carry household, agricultural and industrial chemicals (or their breakdown products) in our bodies; sometimes called our "body burden" of chemicals. Biomonitoring is the direct measurement of this burden of substances in human tissues, such as blood or urine. The US and Germany have national biomonitoring programs to measure contaminants in the child and adult populations. Canada began a biomonitoring program during 2007 and released the results from the first cycle of testing in 2010. Canadian body burdens are similar to levels that have been found in Americans. For example, of those Americans tested, 100 percent had detectable levels of pesticide residues in their bodies. Children who eat organic food have been found to have lower pesticide body burdens than those eating a conventional diet. Bisphenol A was measured in 91% of Canadians with higher levels in children. 

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