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THE THREE INTERACTING FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CHILDREN'S DIETARY EXPOSURES: ENVIRONMENTAL CONCENTRATIONS, FOOD CONTAMINATION, AND CHILDREN'S BEHAVIORS
Citation:
Akland, G G., E. D. Pellizzari, Y. Hu, C. A. Clayton, K. Long, M. Roberts, M R. Berry Jr., AND J. Leckie. THE THREE INTERACTING FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CHILDREN'S DIETARY EXPOSURES: ENVIRONMENTAL CONCENTRATIONS, FOOD CONTAMINATION, AND CHILDREN'S BEHAVIORS. Presented at American Chemical Society Meeting, New Orleans, LA, August 22-26, 1999.
Impact/Purpose:
The purpose of this research is to reduce uncertainties in exposure assessments of young children by improving EPA's ability to measure exposures in the context of aggregate and cumulative exposure assessments. The general objective of this research is to support FQPA children's exposure assessment efforts by improving procedures and reducing uncertainty in measurements for dietary exposure of young children, a critically needed area for improved risk assessment. Specifically, this research will evaluate a protocol and companion model for measuring or otherwise assessing the combined dietary intake of a young child as influenced by pesticides, or other environmental contaminants, which contaminate their foods during the eating process (indirect ingestion exposure). This research will continue to develop the important factors which are needed to characterize excess intake of pesticides by young children. Specifically, the research will measure pesticide surface transfer efficiencies for food contacts with surfaces and eating activity patterns of young children that define the frequency of contacts with contaminated surfaces. A series of reports/products are anticipated by the end of FY05.
Description:
The dietary contribution to an aggregate exposure assessment is potentially an important pathway of exposure especially for young children. Enviornmental contamination appearing in the child's diet can result from contamination in the food as purchased or due to preparing, serving, handling, and/or eating food in the home. Food contamination while eating is of special concern for children 1-3 years old, since this age group has a high frequency of hand to food, hand to surface, and surface to food interactions. These sources of food contamination may be very important in homes with high surface concentrations of chemical residue which may have resulted from outdoor air, track-in of particles, and/or indoor sources. Results of a study designed to evaluate the sources and amount of dietary lead exposure for low socioeconomic status children living in lead contaminated homes in the Newark, New Jersey area will be presented.