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USE OF THE MACROACTIVITY APPROACH TO ASSESS CHILDREN'S DERMAL EXPOSURE TO PESTICIDES IN RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENTS
Citation:
Tulve, N S., P. Hore, E A. CohenHubal, AND L S. Sheldon. USE OF THE MACROACTIVITY APPROACH TO ASSESS CHILDREN'S DERMAL EXPOSURE TO PESTICIDES IN RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENTS. Presented at American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exhibition, San Diego, CA, June 1-6, 2002.
Impact/Purpose:
1. To identify those pesticides, pathways, and activities that represent the highest potential exposures to children;
2. To determine the factors that influence pesticide exposures to children;
3. To develop methods for measuring multimedia exposures to children, including methods that account for important activities that take place in home, school, and day care settings;
4. To generate data on multimedia pesticide concentrations, pesticide biomarkers, and exposure factors that can be used as inputs to aggregate exposure models for children.
Description:
In the macroactivity approach, dermal exposure is estimated using empirically-derived transfer coefficients (TC) to aggregate the mass transfer associated with a series of contacts with a contaminated medium. The macroactivity approach affords the possibility of developing screening level exposure assessments in a short time frame with few resources. However, this approach was developed to assess occupational exposure in an agricultural setting where workers are engaged in similar activities and are exposed to relatively homogeneous environmental concentrations of pesticides. The macroactivity approach needs to be tested in a residential environment with children. The Children's Post-Application Pesticide Pilot Study is a collaborative effort between the EPA and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) in New Jersey. Nine families with children (<5 years old) were recruited for this study. Homes were monitored for 28 days following a pesticide application. Four-hour videotape segments, time-activity diaries, cotton dosimeters, and transferable residue loadings were collected during the study. Activities and locations for children were determined from videotape segments and diaries. Transferable residue loadings were measured using a surface sampler (i.e., Lioy-Weisel-Wainman quantitative surface sampler or alcohol wipes). Cotton socks or pajama pants were used to calculate potential exposure to pesticide residues through the feet, knees, legs, and bottom. Transferable residues and cotton dosimeter measurements were used to calculate TCs.
TC values for six children (one-active play, five-quiet play) were determined. TC values ranged from 4300-84000 cm2/hr (socks), 4000-28000 cm2/hr (legs), 41-3900 cm2/hr (knees), and 2100-7900 cm2/hr (bottom). TCs were found to depend on the activity level of the child, as well as the surfaces contacted.
This work has been funded in part by the USEPA under Contract No. 0D-5227-NAEX to EOHSI. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for presentation and publication.