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DETERMINING BACKGROUND EXPOSURE TO PETROLEUM AND COMBUSTION BY-PRODUCTS: COMPARISON OF MID-WESTERN AND MID-ATLANTIC REGIONS
Citation:
Cormier, S M., E.L C. Lin, B Subramanian, AND F A. Fulk. DETERMINING BACKGROUND EXPOSURE TO PETROLEUM AND COMBUSTION BY-PRODUCTS: COMPARISON OF MID-WESTERN AND MID-ATLANTIC REGIONS. Presented at National Science Meeting, Toronto, Canada, January 18-20, 2000.
Description:
Regional background levels of exposure to fish from petroleum and combustion by-products were determined for the state of Ohio and the mid-Atlantic region. Exposures were measured using bile metabolites that fluoresce at 290/335 nm for naphthalene(NAPH)-type compounds and at 380/440 nm for benzo(a)pyrene(BAP)-type compounds. Fish were sampled using a probabalistic sampling design developed for the Environmental Monitoring Assessment Program in the mid-Atlantic and Eastern Cornbelt Plains Ecoregion and least impacted (LI) sites selected by Ohio EPA. Criteria for exposure values above background were determined using International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) recommendations for reference values. Exposure criteria for NAPH for white suckers were: EMAP MAIA 60 ug/mL/mg; Ohio REMAP 60 ug/mL/mg; and Ohio LI sites 80 ug/mL/mg. For BAP, exposure criteria for white suckers were: EMAP MAIA 0.4 ug/mL/mg/ Ohio REMAP 0.4 ug/mL/mg; and Ohio LI sites 0.5 ug/mL/mg. These values were remarkably similar regardless of region or site selection. This suggests that a single exposure criteria value could be used to determine if fish have been exposed to petroleum or combustion by-products.