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Evaluation of Biomonitoring Data from the CDC National Exposure Report in a Risk Assessment Context: Perspectives across Chemicals
Citation:
Aylward, L., C. Kirman, R. Schoeny, C. Portier, AND S. Hays. Evaluation of Biomonitoring Data from the CDC National Exposure Report in a Risk Assessment Context: Perspectives across Chemicals. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC, 121(3):287-294, (2013).
Impact/Purpose:
This is a journal article, which furthers the discussion of applicability of biomonitoring equivalents. It was not based on nor does it describe EPA research. It does incorporate several EPA reference doses and cancer unit risks.
Description:
BACKGROUND: Biomonitoring data reported in the National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (NER) provide information on the presence and concentrations of more than 400 chemicals in human blood and urine. Biomonitoring Equivalents (BEs) and other risk assessment-based values now allow interpretation of these biomonitoring data in a public health risk context. OBJECTIVES: Compare the measured biomarker concentrations in the NER with BEs and similar risk assessment values to provide an across-chemical risk assessment perspective on the measured levels for approximately 130 analytes in the NER. METHODS: Available risk assessment-based biomarker screening values, including BEs and Human Biomonitoring-I (HBM-I) values from the German Human Biomonitoring Commission, were identified. Geometric mean and 95th percentile population biomarker concentrations from the NER were compared to the available screening values to generate chemical-specific hazard quotients (HQ) or cancer risk estimates. CONCLUSIONS: Several analytes in the NER approach or exceed HQ values of 1 or cancer risks greater than 1x 10-4 at the geometric mean or 95th percentile, suggesting exposure levels exceed what is considered safe in a large fraction of the population. Analytes of concern include acrylamide, dioxin-like chemicals, benzene, xylene, several metals, di-2(ethylhexyl)phthalate, and some legacy organochlorine pesticides. This analysis provides for the first time a means for examining population biomonitoring data for multiple environmental chemicals in the context of the risk assessments for those chemicals. The results of these comparisons can be used to focus more detailed chemical-specific examination of the data and inform priorities for chemical risk management and research.
