You are here:
MEASURING EXCESS DIETARY EXPOSURES CAUSED BY EATING ACTIVITIES OF YOUNG CHILDREN
Citation:
Akland, G G., E. D. Pellizzari, Y. Hu, D. Whitaker, L J. Melnyk, AND M R. Berry Jr. MEASURING EXCESS DIETARY EXPOSURES CAUSED BY EATING ACTIVITIES OF YOUNG CHILDREN. Presented at ISEA Annual Meeting, Charleston, SC, November 4-8, 2001.
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:
A small, pilot field study was conducted to measure dietary exposures of young children which included contamination of foods while eating. Samples were collected to estimate the amount of a pesticide recently applied within the home which was transferred from contaminated surfaces or hands to foods.
Three homes were selected for study. Each home had a young child (1-3 years old), and diazinon had recently been applied, which was confirmed by surface wipe samples. Sampling occurred over six consecutive days following pesticide application. During the monitoring period, enviornmental samples (e.g. air, surface wipe and surface press), personal exposure samples (e.g. hand wipe), biological samples (e.g. morning urine samples), food samples (e.g. duplicate diet, leftover handled food, and foods contacted with surfaces), questionnaires and activity video were collected. A continuous dust (particle) monitoring device with data logger was used to measure air particulate concentrations throughout the monitoring period as an indicator of aerosol generation and/or resuspension related to on-going activities occurring within the home. Twenty-four hour indoor and outdoor integrated air samples were collected each of six consecutive days of monitoring. Samples for surface pesticide loading were collected at the beginning, middle and end of the monitoring period. Duplicate diet, leftover and handled food and morning urine samples were collected daily. Results from the pilot study illustrate the following:
. children handle food items, on average, about 50 times/eating event
. contacts of foods with the child's hands were a greater source of contamination than direct contact with other surfaces
. handling food items can contribute 10 times more than the residue values measured in food items that had not been handled
. diazinon metabolites measured in the urine of the children from the homes studied were elevated above the comparative reference range for other children of this age
This study demonstrates that additional contamination of foods caused by pesticides found in homes on surfaces contacted by children's foods do contribute to excess dietary exposures. Additional research is needed to more fully characterize the parameters that influence food handling by the young child so that this potentially significant contribution to dietary exposure may be incorporated in risk assessments.