Estimating human exposure through multiple pathways from air, water, and soil

Journal Article · Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-2300(91)90040-3· OSTI ID:5642059

McKone, T E; Daniels, J I ^[1]

---

1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore (USA)

This paper describes a set of multipathway, multimedia models for estimating potential human exposure to environmental contaminants. The models link concentrations of an environmental contaminant in air, water, and soil to human exposure through inhalation, ingestion, and dermal-contact routes. The relationship between concentration of a contaminant in an environmental medium and human exposure is determined with pathway exposure factors (PEFs). A PEF is an algebraic expression that incorporates information on human physiology and lifestyle together with models of environmental partitioning and translates a concentration (i.e., mg/m3 in air, mg/liter in water, or mg/kg in soil) into a lifetime-equivalent chronic daily intake (CDI) in mg/kg-day. Human, animal, and environmental data used in calculating PEFs are presented and discussed. Generalized PEFs are derived for air-inhalation, air-ingesstion, water-inhalation, water-ingestion, water-dermal uptake, soil-inhalation, soil-ingestion, and soil-dermal uptake pathways. To illustrate the application of the PEF expressions, we apply them to soil-based contamination of multiple environmental media by arsenic, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and trinitrotoluene (TNT).

• OSTI ID: 5642059
• Journal Information: Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology; (USA), Vol. 13:1; ISSN 0273-2300
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ARSENIC
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
TNT
AIR POLLUTION
CATTLE
CEREALS
DIET
FISHES
INGESTION
INHALATION
MAN
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MEAT
MILK
SKIN ABSORPTION
SOILS
VEGETABLES
WATER POLLUTION
WATER SUPPLY
ABSORPTION
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
AROMATICS
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BODY FLUIDS
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
ELEMENTS
EXPLOSIVES
FOOD
GRAMINEAE
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
INTAKE
LILIOPSIDA
MAGNOLIOPHYTA
MAMMALS
MATERIALS
NITRO COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
POLLUTION
PRIMATES
RUMINANTS
SEMIMETALS
UPTAKE
VERTEBRATES
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
540220 - Environment
Terrestrial- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
540320 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
560300 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology