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DIETARY EXPOSURES OF YOUNG CHILDREN, PART II: FIELD STUDY
Citation:
Akland, G G., E. D. Pellizzari, Y. Hu, D. Whitaker, L J. Melnyk, M R. Berry Jr., AND J. Leckie. DIETARY EXPOSURES OF YOUNG CHILDREN, PART II: FIELD STUDY. Presented at ISEA Annual Conference, Monterey, CA, October 24-27, 2000.
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 determine the adequacy of protocols for dietary exposure measurements. Samples were collected to estimate the amount of pesticides transferred from contaminated surfaces or hands to foods of young children and to validate a dietary model which was developed to estimate children's dietary exposures.
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. To meet the specific aims, sampling occurred over six consecutive days following the date of pesticide application. During the six day monitoring period, environmental 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), questionnaires and activity video were collected. On "exposed days" the child ate his or her meals without any constraints imposed by the experiment. On alternating days ("unexposed days"), the child's hands were washed thoroughly before eating, and then the child ate from a clean surfae (either a place mat or hihg chair which was provided by RTI). Sentinel foods, such as apples, bananas, bread, and hot dogs, were handled by the child on the exposed and non-exposed days for comparison. A continuous dust (particle) monitoring device with data logger was used to measure air particulate concentratoins 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 the 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. Morning urine collections from diaper wearers were made using a newly developed method for this study.
The pilot study demonstrated that the field protocols provide useful data for dietary model validation and for assessing the potential contribution of surface, hands, and food interactions on total dietary exposure.