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Integrated Disinfection By-Products Research: Assessing Reproductive and Developmental Risks Posed by Complex Disinfection By-Product Mixtures
Citation:
RICE, G. E., L. K. TEUSCHLER, T. F. SPETH, S. D. RICHARDSON, R. J. MILTNER, K. M. SCHENCK, C. Gennings, E. S. HUNTER, M. G. NAROTSKY, AND J. E. SIMMONS. Integrated Disinfection By-Products Research: Assessing Reproductive and Developmental Risks Posed by Complex Disinfection By-Product Mixtures . JOURNAL OF TOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH - PART A: CURRENT ISSUES. Taylor & Francis, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, 71(17):1222-1234, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
This article presents a toxicologically-based risk assessment strategy for identifying the individual components or fractions of a complex mixture that are associated with its toxicity. The strategy relies on conventional component-based mixtures risk approaches such as dose addition, response addition, and analyses of interactions. Developmental toxicity data from two drinking-water concentrates containing disinfection by-products (DBP) mixtures were used to illustrate the strategy. The results of this study showed that future studies of DBP concentrates using the Chernoff-Kavlock bioassay need to consider evaluating DBP that are concentrated more than 130-fold and using a rat strain that is more sensitive to chemically-induced pregnancy loss than Sprague-Dawley rats. The results support the planned experimental design of a multigeneration reproductive and developmental study of DBP concentrates. Finally, this article discusses the need for a systematic evaluation of DBP concentrates obtained from multiple source waters and treatment types. The development of such a database could be useful in evaluating whether a specific DBP concentrate is sufficiently similar to tested combinations of source waters and treatment alternatives so that health risks for the former may be estimated using data on the latter.