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EXPOSURES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN TO PENTACHLOROPHENOL, BISPHENOL-A, AND NONYLPHENOL AT HOME AND DAYCARE
Citation:
WILSON, N. K., J. C. CHUANG, B. LORDO, M. K. MORGAN, AND L. S. SHELDON. EXPOSURES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN TO PENTACHLOROPHENOL, BISPHENOL-A, AND NONYLPHENOL AT HOME AND DAYCARE. Presented at International Society of Exposure Analysis Conference, Tucson, AZ, October 30 - November 03, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
The overall objectives of CTEPP were to measure the aggregate exposures of approximately 260 preschool children and their adult caregivers to low levels of a suite of pesticides and organic pollutants that the children may encounter in their everyday environments, and to apportion the routes of exposure and estimate the relative contributions of each route.
Description:
The Children's Total Exposure to Persistent Pesticides and Other Persistent Organic Pollutants (CTEPP) study investigated the potential exposures of 257 preschool children and their primary caregivers to >50 anthropogenic chemicals. This study was conducted in selected counties in North Carolina (NC) and Ohio (OH) in 2000-2001. Over a 48-h period in each child's daycare center and/or home, food, beverages, indoor/outdoor air, housedust, soil, transferable residues, food preparation surfaces, floor surfaces, and participants' hand surfaces and urine were sampled.
Three phenols were among the measured chemicals: pentachlorophenol, bisphenol-A [2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane], and nonylphenol. Nonylphenol was detected in <10%, whereas pentachlorophenol and bisphenol-A were detected in !] 50% of the samples in several media. Pentachlorophenol was found in indoor air (97%), outdoor air (95%), dust (93%), and children's urine (89%) samples from NC; and in indoor air (88%), outdoor air (60%), dust (94%), soil (50%), and children's urine (99%) samples from OH. Bisphenol-A was found in indoor air (65%), hand wipe (94%), solid food (88%), and liquid food (79%) samples from NC; and in indoor air (65%), dust (51%), hand wipe (98%), solid food (100%), and liquid food (71%) samples from OH. In homes with recent pesticide applications, food preparation surface, floor surface, and transferable residue samples were also collected. Only bisphenol-A was detected in ≥ 50% of these additional samples of any medium: in floor wipe (81%), food preparation surface wipe (89%), and transferable residue (100%) samples from NC; and in floor wipe (96%), food preparation surface (85%), and transferable residue (71%) samples from OH.
The children's potential pentachlorophenol exposures were predominantly through inhalation - pentachlorophenol was quantifiable in <6% of food samples, and in only 27% of hand wipes. In contrast, dietary ingestion accounted for almost all their bisphenol-A exposures (99%), with a minor contribution from inhalation (1%).
Although this work was reviewed by EPA and approved for publication, it may not necessarily reflect official Agency policy.