title: Human health risks associated with dietary exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in river water in Korea.
abstract: Because of their persistence, bioaccumulation tendency, and toxicity, organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were banned several decades ago. However, they are still detected in natural water and pose a serious risk to human health and the environment. In the present study, seven OCPs were measured in river water collected from 28 sampling sites between 2010 and 2011 in the Yeongsan (YS) and Seomjin (SJ) Rivers, Korea. Gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) was used for the chemical analysis. The potential health risks of consuming OCPs in fish were assessed in the monitoring region (YS and SJ River basins) by measuring the residual level of OCPs. The human health risks were characterized by considering both the exposure level and the corresponding cancer slope factors; we incorporated both deterministic and probabilistic approaches. The risks were calculated using the probabilistic Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) method. Risk uncertainty and sensitivity were calculated by performing a Monte Carlo analysis. Of the six OCPs, dieldrin, heptachlor epoxide, and hexachlorobenzene exceeded the acceptable risk level in the heavy and light fish consumer groups. The cancer risks associated with these OCPs were 2.99×10(-6), 5.81×10(-6) and 3.72×10(-6), respectively, using the deterministic approach and 1.64×10(-5), 3.36×10(-2) and 5.52×10(-5), respectively, at the 95th percentile using the probabilistic approach. Because there is a high cancer risk associated with these three OCPs, individuals who consume large amounts of freshwater fish may be subject to a high risk of cancer. However, the calculations may have over- or underestimated the risk because of the uncertainty of the environmental concentration and fish intake rate or the use of left-censored monitoring data.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 261 Cheomdan Gwagi-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sun-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 261 Cheomdan Gwagi-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ra
authors.affiliation: Water Quality Center, K-Water, 560 Shintanjin-ro, Daeduck-gu, Daejeon 306-711, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Yeongsan River Environmental Research Center, 1110-8 Oryong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-775, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Jin
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Yim
authors.affiliation: Water Environment Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research, Seo-gu, Incheon 404-708, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Myung-Sook
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 261 Cheomdan Gwagi-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: sdkim@gist.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Sang-Don
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism; D006581:Hexachlorobenzene / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D056910:Republic of Korea; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D010575:Pesticides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D006581:Hexachlorobenzene
keywords: Human health risk; Organochlorine pesticides; Sensitivity; Uncertainty; Yeongsan River