There are tens of thousands of chemicals in our environment and more are introduced every day. Some of these chemicals are pharmaceuticals that provide needed relief to people suffering from certain ailments or chemicals that help control the spread of disease, but when these chemicals end up in our water supply they present a possible health concern.

We believe that the role of our environment is underappreciated in the biomedical research community. We need to learn more about how the environment influences our health, both in negative and positive ways. With this knowledge we can make better decisions in our personal lives and regulatory agencies can make better decisions about minimizing the adverse effects on populations. 

The exposome, conceptually and practically, provides a holistic view of human health and disease. It includes exposures from our diets, our lifestyles, and our behaviors. It also includes how our bodies respond to these challenges. When coupled with advances in genetics and medicine, we believe the exposome will help lead to improved strategies aimed at preventing and treating diseases, such as autism, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. We believe that pursuit of a Human Exposome Project, similar to the Human Genome Project, will help reveal the importance of the environment in our lives. Major research efforts are now focused on defining the human exposome. We anticipate the next few years will witness transformative advances in our understanding of environmental contributors to disease and health.