Impact/Purpose:

The overall objective of this research is to support NERL's human exposure measurement and exposure modeling efforts by reducing the uncertainty in the dietary measurements critically needed for improved aggregate/cumulative exposure assessment. Specifically, the research provides validation of the Children's Dietary Intake Model, information regarding the importance of dietary exposure relative to other pathways, and the tools to design and understand dietary measurements.

Description:

This research constitutes the MCEARD base dietary exposure research program and is conducted to complement the NERL total human exposure program. The research builds on previous work to reduce the level of uncertainty in exposure assessment by improving NERL's ability to evaluate dietary exposure relative to other pathways. A Dietary Exposure Workshop was held April 6 - 7, 2004 in Washington, D.C with a panel of experts to set priorities of dietary exposure research needs from the perspectives of the program offices, industry, and academia. This task reflects the outcomes from the workshop. The projects focus on measuring dietary intake and contributions of indirect ingestion due to surface-to-food and surface-to-hand-to-food contacts for young children during their eating processes. This directly supports the requirements of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996 by providing information on aggregate and cumulative exposure assessments for susceptible sub-populations. To accomplish this, the interactions between food and environmental media, such as hands, floors and other contaminated surfaces, will be further characterized for current use pesticides. The impact of children's eating activities will also be evaluated using existing data on excess dietary exposure as input to evaluate and validate model predictions and to improve models of indirect ingestion exposures of young children. This refined dietary intake model (Children's Dietary Intake Model) will be used in NERL multimedia/multipathway human exposure studies to evaluate total dietary exposure of children.

Record Details:

Record Type:PROJECT

Start Date:10/01/2004

Projected Completion Date:09/01/2008

OMB Category:Other

Record ID: 81028

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Project Information:

Progress :This is a new task which reflects the outcomes from the Dietary Exposure Workshop held April 6 - 7, 2004 in Washington, D.C. A panel of experts was convened to discuss dietary exposure research needs from the perspectives of the program offices, industry, and academia. Over the 1 1/2 day meeting, research needs were discussed for three major topics: fundamental science, regulatory needs, and populations of concern. At the conclusion, a list of research topics were identified which included using available data to evaluate and validate model predictions and to improve models. Other topics, such as longitudinal dietary information and co-occurrence of exposure will be addressed during the conduction of large-scale field studies such as the Longitudinal Study of Young Children's Exposures in their Homes (CHEERS). The elderly were identified as the next population of concern which will be addressed under the Aging Initiative.

Relevance :This research directly supports USEPA's multimedia approach to human exposure and risk assessment and client's needs as identified in the Dietary Exposure Workshop. The goals of FQPA, which requires aggregate and cumulative exposure assessments for pesticides, and specifically, assessments of children's exposures will also be addressed. Each subtask will provide information fundamental to an improved understanding of dietary exposure which supports NERL's multimedia human exposure program and long-term goal (FQ-1) of Goal 4: Healthy Communities and Ecosystems. The research will improve OPPTS, OPP, and NERL's understanding of dietary exposure by reducing the uncertainties and reliance on current default assumptions which, in turn, will allow these clients to regulate and conduct accurate risk assessments. Research performed under this task also provides important input to the guidance and guidelines documents to assess aggregate and cumulative exposures. Research to improve and validate dietary exposure addresses three objectives by providing: consistent and scientifically sound methods and approaches for measuring exposure; major factors that contribute to variability in exposure; and, support for measurement studies to determine distributions of aggregate and cumulative exposures for infants and children. These activities are communicated to other NERL personnel through conference calls and planning meetings with NERL's Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division; to the scientific community by publications and presentations at international meetings; and to OPPTS and OPP through program discussions with Assistant Laboratory Directors.

Clients :NERL multimedia field programs, Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS), Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP)

Project IDs:

ID Code :19124

Project type :OMIS