title: Human exposures to PAHs: an eastern United States pilot study.
abstract: Personal exposure monitoring for select polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was performed as part of the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) Pilot Study in Baltimore, MD and in four surrounding counties (NHEXAS-Maryland). An objective of this effort was to establish environmental exposure estimates for non-scripted subpopulations involved in their normal activities. Participants, children, and adults (ages 13-84) were randomly selected from urban, suburban, and rural areas near Baltimore. Twenty-four hour PM(10) sample collections (~5.8 m(3)) were performed using personal environmental monitors. Monitoring was performed for 47 households and 6 sampling Cycles during 1995-1996. A total of 233 personal air samples were available from the participants with eight PAHs speciated (e.g., chrysene, benzo(a)pyrene) as well as an aggregate grouping (total carcinogenic PAHs). Results indicate that ~50% of the selected samples had detectable concentrations for 3 to 5 of the individual PAHs depending upon spatial setting. Noted differences were observed between exposure concentrations from individuals living in rural areas as compared to urban/suburban environments. Mean benzo(a)pyrene concentrations were observed to be 0.10 ng/m(3) across the entire sampling population. This represented a value well below the World Health Organization's 1.0 ng/m(3) ambient air guideline for this PAH.
authors.affiliation: National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Carry
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Croghan
authors.forename: P Barry
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015142:Baltimore; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons