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CTEPP OVERVIEW: A PILOT STUDY OF CHILDREN'S TOTAL EXPOSURE TO PERSISTENT PESTICIDES AND OTHER PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS
Citation:
Wilson, N K., G F. Evans, J. C. Chuang, AND C. Lyu. CTEPP OVERVIEW: A PILOT STUDY OF CHILDREN'S TOTAL EXPOSURE TO PERSISTENT PESTICIDES AND OTHER PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS. Presented at International Society of Exposure Analysis, Monterey, CA, October 24-27, 2000.
Impact/Purpose:
The overall objectives of CTEPP were to measure the aggregate exposures of approximately 260 preschool children and their adult caregivers to low levels of a suite of pesticides and organic pollutants that the children may encounter in their everyday environments, and to apportion the routes of exposure and estimate the relative contributions of each route.
Description:
The research study, "Children's Total Exposure to Persistent Pesticides and Other Persistent Organic Pollutants," (CTEPP) is a pilot-scale project involving about 260 children in their everyday surroundings. The objectives of CTEPP are twofold: (1) To measure the aggregate exposure through multiple pathways of a set of preschool children in several North Carolina and Ohio counties to a suite of persistent pollutants in their everyday environments, and (2) To apportion the exposure pathways and to identify and formulate the important hypotheses to be tested in future research.
The targeted compounds are persistent in the indoor and sometimes the outdoor environments, so that very low levels may exist and provide a source of chronic, non-acute exposure. Targeted pollutants include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; chlorinated, carbamate, triazine, pyrethroid and organophosphate pesticides; phthalate esters; phenols; and polychlorinated biphenyls.
Children who stay at home with an adult caregiver and children who attend preschool or day care are included. Emphasis is on children ages 18 months to 4 years. Exposures of the children and their primary adult caregivers living in the same household are estimated through the collection and analysis of samples of food, beverages, and drinking water; indoor and outdoor air; hand wipes; house dust, classroom dust, and play area soil; smooth floor and food preparation surface wipes; and urine. Children's activity and food diaries during the sampling period are maintained by the parent/teachers. Approximately 10% of the children are videotaped for two hours during the sampling to supplement the activity diaries and observations.
The CTEPP study was initiated in early 2000, with field sampling in NC and OH planned to begin in July 2000. Sample collection in the targeted NC and OH counties and subsequent analysis will extend over a two year period.
This work has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication.