You are here:
Assessing the bioavailability and risk from metal-contaminated soils and dusts
Citation:
Bradham, K., B. Laird, P. Rasmussen, R. Schoof, S. Serda, S. Sicilliano, AND M. Hughes. Assessing the bioavailability and risk from metal-contaminated soils and dusts. International Journal of Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, 20(1):272-286, (2014).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Exposure to contaminated soil and dust is an important pathway in human health risk assessment. Physical and chemical characteristics, as well as biological factors, determine the bioaccessibility/bioavailability of soil and dust contaminants. Within a single sample, contamination may arise from multiple sources of toxic elements that may exist as different forms (species) which impact bioavailability. In turn, the bioaccessibility/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 bioaccessibility/bioavailability of metal contaminated soils have advanced in the past few years. The objective of this workshop was to focus on recent developments in assessing the bioaccessibility/bioavailability 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 , studies of the bioavailability of soil cadmium, chromium, nickel and mercury and human exposures to contaminated Brownfield soils. These presentations covered issues related to human health and bioavailability along with the most recent studies on community participation in assessing metal contamination, studies of exposures to residential contamination, and recent in vitro and in vivo methods development for assessing the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of metals in soils and dusts. This workshop provided a forum for discussing the implications of these latest developments on incorporating the bioavailability of metals into the risk assessment and management process.
URLs/Downloads:
BRADHAM - FINAL FINAL HEASD-12-029 ORD-003393.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 551.631 KB, about PDF)Human and Ecological risk Assessment: An International Journal
