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BREATH MEASUREMENT AND MODELS TO ASSESS VOC DERMAL ABSORPTION IN WATER
Citation:
Fan, V. S., T J. Buckley, M Colon, AND J D. Pleil. BREATH MEASUREMENT AND MODELS TO ASSESS VOC DERMAL ABSORPTION IN WATER. Presented at American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, 2000, Orlando, FL, May 19-25, 2000.
Description:
Dermal exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in water results from environmental contamination of surface, ground-, and drinking waters. This exposure occurs both in occupational and residential settings. Compartmental models incorporating body burden measurements have been developed to estimate VOC exposure through pathways of inhalation and ingestion. This modeling approach is needed for the dermal pathway as well because VOC dermal exposure in water can be significant. We present preliminary results of alveolar breath measurements as a biomarker for VOC dermal exposure. Models were developed from VOC dermal uptake and breath concentration measurements collected in a laboratory-based human in vivo study. Subjects placed their hand and forearm into a sealed 2-liter plexiglass cylinder containing 100, 100, 100, and 400 g/L of chloroform, toluene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane (111TCA) and methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE) in water, respectively, for one hour. The amount of dermal uptake was determined by measuring the change in water concentration from the beginning to the end of the exposure period. Concentrations of target VOCs in breath were measured before, during and after exposure in order to establish the concentration time-course associated with dermal uptake. Breath samples were collected via a single-breath exhalation procedure into Summa canisters. Breath sample analysis was conducted using a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry detector (GC/MS). This study develops mathematical, compartmental models to estimate VOC dermal exposure with body burden as a biomarker. This modeling approach is an effective and practical tool for held researchers to more fully characterize the population exposure distribution.
This study has been supported in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication.