Estimates of exposures to perchlorate from consumption of human milk, dairy milk, and water, and comparison to current reference dose.
To develop an enforceable drinking water standard from a health-based reference dose, sources of exposure and relevant exposure factors across the U.S. population must be considered. Human exposures, expressed as an estimated daily exposure, can be used to evaluate the health protectiveness of a range of potential regulatory values, thus providing a scientific foundation on which decisions can be based. Recent evidence points to detectable levels of perchlorate in milk and other foods. The purpose of this article is to estimate human exposure to perchlorate from ingestion of drinking water, human milk, and dairy milk. Drinking-water exposure was based on a range of possible regulatory values, derived from the recently established reference dose. Exposure to perchlorate from the consumption of milk was based on exploratory Food and Drug Administration dairy milk data, and on additional published perchlorate concentrations in dairy and human milk samples. This effort is exploratory in nature due to the limited data available at this time. However, it is anticipated that these exposure estimates and comparison with the current reference dose will stimulate dialogue and research that will advance the risk assessment for perchlorate.
Baier-Anderson
Cal
C
Division of Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA. cbaie001@umaryland.edu
Blount
Benjamin C
BC
Lakind
Judy S
JS
Naiman
Daniel Q
DQ
Wilbur
Sharon B
SB
Tan
Shirlee
S
D000818:Animals; D001942:Breast Feeding; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry; D010472:Perchlorates / Q000032:analysis*; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017670:Sodium Compounds / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D010472:Perchlorates; D017670:Sodium Compounds; C031068:sodium perchlorate