Title: | "Total human exposure: basic concepts, EPA field studies, and future research needs" |
Address: | "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C" |
DOI: | 10.1080/10473289.1990.10466747 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1047-3289 (Print) 1047-3289 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Historically, environmental regulatory programs designed to protect public health have monitored pollutants only in geophysical carrier media (for example, outdoor air, streams, soil). Field studies have identified a gap between the levels observed in geophysical carrier media and the concentrations with which people actually come into contact: their daily exposures. A new approach--Total Human Exposure (THE)--has evolved to fill this gap and provide the critical data needed for accurately assessing public health risk. The THE approach considers a three-dimensional 'bubble' around each person and measures the concentrations of all pollutants contacting that bubble, either through the air, food, water, or skin. Two basic THE approaches have emerged: (1) the direct approach using probability samples of populations and measuring pollutant concentrations in the food eaten, air breathed, water drunk, and skin contacted; and (2) the indirect approach using human activity pattern-exposure models to predict population exposure distributions. Using the direct approach, EPA has conducted over 20 field studies for pollutants representing four groups--volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, pesticides, and particles--in 15 cities in 12 states. The indirect modeling approach has been applied to several of these pollutants. Additional research is needed in a great variety of areas. Even from the few projects completed thus far, the THE approach has yielded a rich new data base for risk assessments and has provided many surprises about the relative contribution of various pollutant sources to public health risk" |
Keywords: | "Environmental Pollution/*adverse effects Humans Models, Biological United States United States Environmental Protection Agency;" |
Notes: | "MedlineOtt, W R eng Review 1990/07/01 J Air Waste Manage Assoc. 1990 Jul; 40(7):966-75. doi: 10.1080/10473289.1990.10466747" |