Impact/Purpose:

Work with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Ecology (DOE) to incorporate dermal exposures into a revision of the MTCA.

Description:

The conception, development and incorporation of the dermal exposure pathway in the MTCA Proposed Rule Amendments was a collaborative effort of one federal and two state agencies. The technical team was composed of Marc Stifelman and Marcia Bailey (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region X), Rob Duff (Washington State Department of Health) and Craig R. McCormack (Washington State Department of Ecology). The Department of Ecology Science Advisory Board (SAB) was presented with the recommendations of the technical team regarding the rationale and scientific justifications for including dermal-soil exposure into MTCA. Recommendation: Assessment of oral and dermal exposure to contaminants in soil should be required as the default method for determining soil cleanup levels. We can find no rationale where oral exposure (i.e. incidental ingestion of soil) could occur independent of skin contact. Such an approach will better ensure state-wide consistency for the cleanup of MTCA sites, simplify the derivation of cleanup levels and better protect human health from risks associated with contact with contaminated soil.

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