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PAH EXPOSURES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN AND THEIR ADULT CAREGIVERS
Citation:
Wilson, N K. PAH EXPOSURES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN AND THEIR ADULT CAREGIVERS. Presented at NIG/NIEHS Workshop on the Role of Human Exposure Assessment in the Prevention of Environmental Disease, Rockville, MD, September 22-24, 1999.
Description:
The results of four small studies of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposures of preschool children in low-income families from the Piedmont area of North Carolina were combined to allow comparisons of the total exposures of the children and their adult caregivers. Indoor and outdoor air, house dust, play area soil, and food and beverages were analyzed for PAH. Total exposures to the targeted PAH were calculated from the environmental levels, activity diary information, and assumed ventilation volumes and dust/soil ingestion masses (Exposure Factors Handbook, EPA, 1996). The most important exposure pathway for total PAH exposure, which includes exposures to the volatile PAH such as naphthalene and anthracene and also to the nonvolatile PAH such as benzo[a]pyrene, was inhalation by adults and children. For the nonvolatile B2 PAH (probable human carcinogens, International Agency for Research on Cancer), dietary ingestion was most important for both adults and children, while inhalation was least important for children and secondarily important for adults. The potential doses of B2 PAH for 24 children ranged from 12.2 to 107 ng/kg body weight/day; for the 24 adults in the same households these ranged from.4.12 to 62.0 ng/kg body weight/day. The mean B2 PAH potential dose for the children was approximately two times that of the adults.
This abstract has been reviewed in accordance with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's peer and administrative review policies and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.