An overview of food chain impacts from municipal waste combustion

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3294-1_6· OSTI ID:5154145

Hattemer-Frey, H A; Travis, C C

Human exposure to pollutants emitted from a municipal waste combustor (MWC) can occur via inhalation, ingestion of contaminated food items, infant consumption of mother's milk, and dermal absorption. Of particular concern, however, are potential exposures from ingesting contaminated food items. The food chain has been shown to be the primary source of human exposure to a large class of organics, including DDT, dioxin, pentachlorophenol, benzo(a)pyrene, and most pesticides. Various measurement and predictive techniques can be used to evaluate the movement and transfer of chemicals within and between environmental media as well as the concentration of organics to which humans are exposed. Since organic chemicals tend to accumulate in the media in which they are most soluble, a few basic physicochemical properties can be used to predict the behavior and fate of chemicals released into the environment. Multimedia transport models estimate the concentration of a pollutant in various environmental media and then use those concentrations to predict the amount of pollutant to which humans are exposed. This paper quantifies the extent of human exposure to 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD, commonly referred to as dioxin) and cadmium emitted from an arbitrary MWC in the US. It also provides an innovative perspective on human exposure to facility-emitted pollutants using a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) approach. 103 refs., 5 figs., 16 tabs.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: EPA
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 5154145
• Report Number(s): CONF-8906180-4; ON: DE90004304
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
CADMIUM
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
CONTAMINATION
DIOXIN
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY
FOOD
FOOD CHAINS
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
METALS
MUNICIPAL WASTES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
POLLUTION
POPULATIONS
RISK ASSESSMENT
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
TOXICITY
WASTES