Estimating human exposure through multiple pathways from air, water, and soil.
This paper describes a set of multipathway, multimedia models for estimating potential human exposure to environmental contaminants. The models link concentrations of an environmental contaminant in air, water, and soil to human exposure through inhalation, ingestion, and dermal-contact routes. The relationship between concentration of a contaminant in an environmental medium and human exposure is determined with pathway exposure factors (PEFs). A PEF is an algebraic expression that incorporates information on human physiology and lifestyle together with models of environmental partitioning and translates a concentration (i.e., mg/m3 in air, mg/liter in water, or mg/kg in soil) into a lifetime-equivalent chronic daily intake (CDI) in mg/kg-day. Human, animal, and environmental data used in calculating PEFs are presented and discussed. Generalized PEFs are derived for air----inhalation, air----ingestion, water----inhalation, water----ingestion, water----dermal uptake, soil----inhalation, soil----ingestion, and soil----dermal uptake pathways. To illustrate the application of the PEF expressions, we apply them to soil-based contamination of multiple environmental media by arsenic, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and trinitrotoluene (TNT).
McKone
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University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore 94550.
Daniels
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D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002417:Cattle; D004032:Diet; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000032:analysis; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D005399:Fishes; D005504:Food Analysis; D005638:Fruit / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry; D008954:Models, Biological; D012869:Skin Absorption; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity; D014675:Vegetables / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis
D000393:Air Pollutants; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical