Discovering time-trends of the German populations exposure to contaminants by analysis of human samples of the German Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB).

•German ESB archives biological material of about 500 young adults annually since 35 years.•Real-time monitoring (RTM) of HBM parameters in freshly taken samples reveals exposure situation directly.•Archived samples can be used for retrospective analysis of new appearing contaminants.•Human biomonitoring (HBM) data of the German ESB identify long-term trends in exposure.•German ESB is a valuable tool to reveal necessity and success of regulatory measures.