Monitoring human tissues for toxic substances: a follow-up to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report.

In 1991, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) published a report, Monitoring Human Tissues for Toxic Substances, which presented a summary of thinking about the banking of human tissue specimens at the time the report was completed. The present article summarizes the findings and recommendations in the NAS report. Events have moved very rapidly since that time, but some history may be helpful in understanding how we have come to where we are today.