摘要：Summary. The Italian program for human biomonitoring (HBM) of chemical elements, PROgram
for Biomonitoring of the Exposure (PROBE), started in 2008 with the aim to provide the knowledge
about risk assessment of the Italian population following the environmental exposure to metals. The
project is implemented through a HBM campaign for the production of data on 19 metals in the
blood and serum of subjects living in different Italian Regions. The metals studied are: antimony,
beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, iridium, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel,
palladium, platinum, rhodium, thallium, tin, tungsten, uranium and vanadium. The first phase of
the project has included the development and validation of laboratory protocols for the collection
of fluids and quantification of metals. The second phase provides the HBM data expressed as the
reference values (RVs) for the Italian population, i.e., as the level of metals in the general population
not occupationally exposed. In this paper, the experimental protocols used for the maintenance of
high standards of analysis and the RVs for metals in serum of inhabitants of two Italian Regions
(Calabria and Umbria) are described.
