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Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates (External Review Draft)
EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft document titled, Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates (EPA/600/R-06/129A) as described in the January 24, 2007 Federal Register Notice.
Citation:
U.S. EPA. Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates (External Review Draft). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-06/129A.
Impact/Purpose:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its program offices conduct various types of exposure assessment activities in order to characterize human exposure to toxic chemicals. To assist in these efforts, EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) has developed the Exposure Factors Handbook (USEPA, 1997), a comprehensive document that provides a summary of available statistical data on various factors that can impact a person’s exposure to environmental contaminants. The two primary purposes of the Exposure Factors Handbook (the "Handbook") are to summarize data on human behaviors and characteristics which can affect exposure to environmental contaminants, and to recommend values for specific exposure factors when included within an exposure assessment.
Description:
EPA has released a draft report entitled, Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates, for independent external peer review and public comment. NCEA published the Exposure Factors Handbook in 1997. This comprehensive document provides summaries of available statistical data on various factors that can impact an individual’s exposure to environmental contaminants. NCEA maintains the Exposure Factors Handbook and periodically updates the document using current literature and other reliable data made available through research. Many program offices within EPA rely on the data from this handbook to conduct their exposure and risk assessments.
One important determinant of a person’s exposure to contaminants in air is the ventilation rate, or the volume of air that is inhaled by an individual in a specified time period. Ventilation rates, also known as breathing or inhalation rates, are given in Chapter 5 of the Exposure Factors Handbook. Calculations of the currently recommended ventilation rates were limited by their dependence on a ventilatory equivalent which relied on a person’s fitness level. This draft report, Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates presents a revised approach which calculates ventilation rates directly from an individual’s oxygen consumption rate, and applies this method to data provided from more recent sources as the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and EPA’s Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD). In the next edition of the Exposure Factors Handbook, NCEA would like to update the metabolically-derived ventilation rate values using this revised approach and the more recently released data.
URLs/Downloads:
FR NOTICE: JANUARY 24, 2007
Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates (PDF, 119 pp, 2207 KB, about PDF)