Use of environmental health-risk analysis for managing toxic substances
This paper presents a set of simple models used to assess health risks based on toxicity, environmental mobility and persistence. These models use a representative landscape in order to describe the steady-state distribution of arsenic, tritiated water, and TCDD as a result of continuous additions to soil. This information is used to assess potential exposures. Application of the screening model to three chemically different carcinogens reveals that the environmental health risk does not scale with direct measures of toxicity. As estimated here, the environmental health risk of TCDD relative to tritiated water and arsenic is roughly an order of magnitude less than its cancer potency relative to these compounds. The difference is attributable in large part to the immobility of TCDD relative to tritium and the lower persistence of TCDD compared to arsenic. The purpose is to present a simple procedure for using the relative behavior of toxic species under prototype conditions as a basis for risk management. 21 refs., 4 tabs. (ACR)
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 5862754
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-92329; CONF-850612-1; ON: DE85008964
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Air Pollution Control Association annual meeting and exhibition, Detroit, MI, USA, 16 Jun 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ARSENIC
HEALTH HAZARDS
DIOXIN
TRITIUM
RADIATION HAZARDS
CARCINOGENESIS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
RISK ASSESSMENT
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ELEMENTS
HAZARDS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PATHOGENESIS
RADIOISOTOPES
SEMIMETALS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
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