title: An investigation of homes with high concentrations of PCDDs, PCDFs, and/or dioxin-like PCBs in house dust.
abstract: As part of the University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study, the 29 congeners of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls that have World Health Organization consensus toxic equivalency factors were measured in house dust from 764 homes using a population-based sampling design over selected regions in five Michigan counties. Twenty homes had a total toxic equivalency in house dust that was more than 2.5 standard deviations above the mean (i.e., defined to be outliers). This follow-up investigation describes the outlier house dust measurements and corresponding soil measurements and explores possible sources of these toxins in house dust. The congener distributions in the house dust outliers varied and were dominated (i.e., >50% of the total toxic equivalency) by either polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (n = 9), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (n = 1), or dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (n = 9). Likely sources of contamination of house dust were identified in only three cases. In two cases, dust contamination appeared to be related to contaminated soil adjacent to the home; in one case, contamination was related to a source within the home (a carpet pad). In most cases, the source(s) of contamination of house dust could not be identified but appeared likely to be related to uncharacterized sources within the homes.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029, USA. afranz@umich.edu
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franzblau
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zwica
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Knutson
authors.forename: Qixuan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shih-Yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Biling
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Adriaems
authors.forename: Avery
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Demond
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Garabrant
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gillespie
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lepkowski
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luksemburg
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Towey
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D001572:Benzofurans / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D000072338:Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated; D004147:Dioxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D001572:Benzofurans; D000072338:Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated; D004147:Dioxins; D004391:Dust; D000072317:Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls