An assessment of adult risks of paresthesia due to mercury from coal combustion
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
- Viren, (J.) Bellevue, WA (United States)
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
This paper presents results from a probabilistic assessment of the mercury health risks associated with a hypothetical 1000 MW coal-fired power plant. The assessment draws on the extant knowledge in each of the important steps in the chain from emissions to health effects, based on methylmercury derived from seafood. For this assessment, we define three separate sources of dietary Hg: canned tuna (affected by global Hg), marine shellfish and finfish (affected by global Hg), and freshwater gamefish (affected by both global Hg and local deposition from nearby sources). We consider emissions of both reactive and elemental mercury from the hypothetical plant (assumed to burn coal with the US average Hg content) and estimate wet and dry deposition rates; atmospheric reactions are not considered. Mercury that is not deposited within 50 km is assumed to enter the global background pool. The incremental Hg in local fish is assumed to be proportional to the incremental total Hg deposition. Three alternative dose-response models were derived from published data on specific neurological responses, in this case, adult paresthesia (skin prickling or tingling of the extremities). Preliminary estimates show the upper 95th percentile of the baseline risk attributed to seafood consumption to be around 10{sup {minus}4} (1 chance in 10,000). Based on a doubling of Hg deposition in the immediate vicinity of the hypothetical plant, the incremental local risk from seafood would be about a factor of 4 higher. These risks should be compared to the estimated background prevalence rate of paresthesia, which is about 7%.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 10119484
- Report Number(s):
- BNL--49862; CONF-931116--2; ON: DE94006057
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
560300
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CHEMICALS METABOLISM AND TOXICOLOGY
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
FISHES
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
MERCURY
PATHOLOGY
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
RISK ASSESSMENT