title: Canadian house dust study: lead bioaccessibility and speciation.
abstract: Vacuum samples were collected from 1025 randomly selected urban Canadian homes to investigate bioaccessible Pb (Pb(S)) concentrations in settled house dust. Results indicate a polymodal frequency distribution, consisting of three lognormally distributed subpopulations defined as "urban background" (geomean 58 μg g(-1)), "elevated" (geomean 447 μg g(-1)), and "anomalous" (geomean 1730 μg g(-1)). Dust Pb(S) concentrations in 924 homes (90%) fall into the "urban background" category. The elevated and anomalous subpopulations predominantly consist of older homes located in central core areas of cities. The influence of house age is evidenced by a moderate correlation between house age and dust Pb(S) content (R(2) = 0.34; n = 1025; p < 0.01), but it is notable that more than 10% of homes in the elevated/anomalous category were built after 1980. Conversely, the benefit of home remediation is evidenced by the large number of homes (33%) in the background category that were built before 1960. The dominant dust Pb species determined using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy were as follows: Pb carbonate, Pb hydroxyl carbonate, Pb sulfate, Pb chromate, Pb oxide, Pb citrate, Pb metal, Pb adsorbed to Fe- and Al-oxyhydroxides, and Pb adsorbed to humate. Pb bioaccessibility estimated from solid phase speciation predicts Pb bioaccessibility measured using a simulated gastric extraction (R(2) = 0.85; n = 12; p < 0.0001). The trend toward increased Pb bioaccessibility in the elevated and anomalous subpopulations (75% ± 18% and 81% ± 8%, respectively) compared to background (63% ± 18%) is explained by the higher proportion of bioaccessible compounds used as pigments in older paints (Pb carbonate and Pb hydroxyl carbonate). This population-based study provides a nationally representative urban baseline for applications in human health risk assessment and risk management.
authors.affiliation: Exposure and Biomonitoring Division, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada, 50 Colombine Driveway, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Pat.Rasmussen@hc-sc.gc.ca
authors.forename: Pat E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beauchemin
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chénier
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Levesque
authors.forename: Lachlan C W
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: MacLean
authors.forename: Leonora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marro
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jones-Otazo
authors.forename: Sanya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petrovic
authors.forename: Lauren T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: H David
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Gardner
mesh_terms: D001682:Biological Availability; D002170:Canada; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D017356:Synchrotrons; D056928:X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D007854:Lead