title: The spatial distribution of human exposure to PCBs around a former production site in Slovakia.
abstract: We evaluated concentrations of 15 PCB congeners in blood serum of 2047 adults, 431 8-9-year old children and 1134 mother-child pairs born in 2001-2003. These subjects were long-standing residents living up to 70 km (to the north) and up to 50 km (to the south) of the former Chemko Strážske PCB production facility in the Michalovce district of Slovakia. We plotted serum concentration against distance from the plant both with and without consideration of the direction of their homes from the site. The decrease in exposure with distance could be described by an exponential function which was dependent on direction and climatic parameters. By kriging we created maps depicting predicted isoconcentration contours for sex- and age-adjusted serum concentration of ∑PCBs for the same group of children, adults and mothers. The principle of our risk analysis was to relate serum concentration data, reflecting PCB body burden, using the critical concentrations established by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES 2010) as thresholds below which the probability of effects on health is regarded as negligible. We conclude that 10 years ago, around 200,000 residents were at risk in this densely populated area. Exposure has since decreased but the mechanism for this has not yet been studied.
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Soňa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wimmerová
authors.affiliation: Public Interest Consultants, Uplands Court, 134, Eaton Crescent Uplands, Swansea, SA1 4QR, Wales, UK.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Drobná
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Šovčíková
authors.affiliation: POPs Environmental Consulting, Lindenfirststrasse 23, Schwaebisch Gmuend, 73527, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Kinga
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lancz
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Henrieta
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Patayová
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Denisa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Richterová
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Vladimíra
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Koštiaková
authors.affiliation: The Štefan Kukura Hospital and Policlinic, Michalovce, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jurečková
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Progressive Technologies, Faculty of Materials Science and Technology in Trnava, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Hajdóczyho 1, 917 24, Trnava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Pavol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Závacký
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Progressive Technologies, Faculty of Materials Science and Technology in Trnava, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Hajdóczyho 1, 917 24, Trnava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Maximilián
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strémy
authors.affiliation: Departments of Public Health Sciences and Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 265 Crittenden Blvd., Rochester, NY, 14642, USA.
authors.forename: Todd A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Jusko
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Ľubica
authors.initials: Ľ
authors.lastname: Palkovičová Murínová
authors.affiliation: Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.
authors.forename: Irva
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hertz-Picciotto
authors.affiliation: Slovak Medical University, Limbová 12, 83303, Bratislava, Slovakia. tomas.trnovec@szu.sk.
authors.forename: Tomáš
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Trnovec
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002617:Chemical Industry; D002648:Child; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018154:Slovakia; D062206:Spatial Analysis
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Contaminated site; GIS; Geographic information system; Human biomonitoring; PCBs; POPs; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Risk assessment