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Assessing the bioavailability and risk from metal contaminated soils and dusts#
Citation:
HUGHES, M. F. AND K. D. BRADHAM. Assessing the bioavailability and risk from metal contaminated soils and dusts#. Presented at Society of Toxicology 2012 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, March 11 - 15, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
This abstract is for a workshop on the bioavailability and risk from metal contaminated soils and dusts. Presenations will be on bioavailability of arsenic in soils using a mouse model, metal contamination in urban residences, a community-based study on lead in house dust, and human exposures to contaminated Brownfield soils.
Description:
Exposure to contaminated soil and dust is an important pathway in human and ecological risk assessment and often is the "risk-driver" for metal contaminated soil. Site-specific soil physical and chemical characteristics, as well as biological factors, determine the bioavailability of soil contaminants. Wrthin a single sample, contamination may be from multiple sources of toxic elements that may exist as different forms and species. The bioavailability of soil and dust contaminants has a direct impact on human health risk assessment and risk management practices. Novel research efforts focusing on development and application of in vitro and in vivo methods to measure the bioavailability of metal contaminated soils have advanced in the past few years. The objective of this workshop is to focus on recent developments in assessing the bioavailability and risk from metal contaminated soils and dusts. The presentations include the relative bioava.i1ability of arsenic contaminated soils, metal contamination in urban residences in Canada and potential children's exposures to toxic elements in house dust, a community-based study known as the West Oakland Residential Lead Assessment study, studies of the bioavailability of soil cadmium, chromium, nickel and mercury, and human exposures to contaminated Brownfield soils. These presentations cover issues related to human health and bioavailability along with the most recent studies on community participation in assessing metal contamination, studies of children's exposures to residential contamination, and recent in vitro and in. vivo methods development for assessing the bioavailability of metals in soils and dusts. This workshop will seek to provide a forum for discussing the implications of these latest developments on incorporating bioavailability into the risk assessment and management process. (This abstract does not represent U.S. EPA policy.)