Health risk assessment of dichloromethane (methylene chloride) in California ground water

Technical Report · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:10173055

Bogen, K T; Hall, L C; Wright, K; McKone, T E

This document presents an assessment of potential health risks associated with exposure to dichloromethane (DCM) dissolved in California drinking water, focusing primarily on information relevant to a determination of potential cancer risk that may be associated with such exposures to DCM. This assessment is being provided to the California Environmental Protection Agency for the development of drinking-water standards to manage the health risks of DCM exposures. Other assessments required in the risk-management process include analyses of the technical and economic feasibilities of treating water supplies contaminated with DCM. The primary goal of this health-risk assessment is to evaluate scientifically plausible dose-response relationships for observed and potential DCM-induced cancer in order to define dose rates that can be used to establish standards that win protect members of the general public from this chronic toxicity endpoint resulting solely from groundwater-based exposures to DCM, based on information obtained from the scientific literature. The document consists of seven sections, plus one supporting appendix. Each section provides information that can be used to develop DCM drinking-water standards that will safeguard human health. Evaluation of this information in support of specific groundwater safety standards for DCM was not conducted in this report; rather, the basis for selection of alternative standards, along with a narrative description of certain key sources of underlying uncertainty, are presented for evaluation through the regulatory risk-management process.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 10173055
• Report Number(s): UCRL--21218; ON: DE93018480
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320
560300
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
CALIFORNIA
CARCINOGENESIS
CHEMICALS METABOLISM AND TOXICOLOGY
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
DOSE RATES
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
DRINKING WATER
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
GROUND WATER
METHYLENE CHLORIDE
RISK ASSESSMENT
SAFETY STANDARDS
TOXICITY