title: Risk of human exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: A case study in Beijing, China.
abstract: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can cause adverse effects on human health. The relative contributions of their two major intake routes (diet and inhalation) to population PAH exposure are still unclear. We modeled the contributions of diet and inhalation to the overall PAH exposure of the population of Beijing in China, and assessed their human incremental lifetime cancer risks (ILCR) using a Mont Carlo simulation approach. The results showed that diet accounted for about 85% of low-molecular-weight PAH (L-PAH) exposure, while inhalation accounted for approximately 57% of high-molecular-weight PAH (H-PAH) exposure of the Beijing population. Meat and cereals were the main contributors to dietary PAH exposure. Both gaseous- and particulate-phase PAHs contributed to L-PAH exposure through inhalation, whereas exposure to H-PAHs was mostly from the particulate-phase. To reduce the cancer incidence of the Beijing population, more attention should be given to inhaled particulate-phase PAHs with considerable carcinogenic potential.
authors.affiliation: College of Water Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: College of Water Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Water Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Reproductive & Child Health/Ministry of Health Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, PR China. Electronic address: binwangpku@foxmail.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Xilong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Reproductive & Child Health/Ministry of Health Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, PR China.
authors.forename: Aiguo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tao
mesh_terms: D000068476:Beijing / Q000453:epidemiology; D004032:Diet; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
keywords: Cancer risk; Diet; ILCR; Inhalation; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon