Background: The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 prompted concern about health risks among seafood consumers exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) via consumption of contaminated seafood.Objective: The objective of this study was to conduct population-specific probabilistic health risk assessments based on consumption of locally harvested white shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus) among Vietnamese Americans in southeast Louisiana.Methods: We conducted a survey of Vietnamese Americans in southeast Louisiana to evaluate shrimp consumption, preparation methods, and body weight among shrimp consumers in the disaster-impacted region. We also collected and chemically analyzed locally harvested white shrimp for 81 individual PAHs. We combined the PAH levels (with accepted reference doses) found in the shrimp with the survey data to conduct Monte Carlo simulations for probabilistic noncancer health risk assessments. We also conducted probabilistic cancer risk assessments using relative potency factors (RPFs) to estimate cancer risks from the intake of PAHs from white shrimp.Results: Monte Carlo simulations were used to generate hazard quotient distributions for noncancer health risks, reported as mean ± SD, for naphthalene (1.8 × 10–4 ± 3.3 × 10–4), fluorene (2.4 × 10–5 ± 3.3 × 10–5), anthracene (3.9 × 10–6 ± 5.4 × 10–6), pyrene (3.2 × 10–5 ± 4.3 × 10–5), and fluoranthene (1.8 × 10–4 ± 3.3 × 10–4). A cancer risk distribution, based on RPF-adjusted PAH intake, was also generated (2.4 × 10–7 ± 3.9 × 10–7).Conclusions: The risk assessment results show no acute health risks or excess cancer risk associated with consumption of shrimp containing the levels of PAHs detected in our study, even among frequent shrimp consumers.Citation: Wilson MJ, Frickel S, Nguyen D, Bui T, Echsner S, Simon BR, Howard JL, Miller K, Wickliffe JK. 2015. A targeted health risk assessment following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure in Vietnamese-American shrimp consumers. Environ Health Perspect 123:152–159; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408684
Background: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are abundant and widespread environmental chemicals. They are produced naturally and through man-made processes, and they are common in organic media, including petroleum. Several PAHs are toxic, and a subset exhibit carcinogenic activity. PAHs represent a range of chemical structures based on two or more benzene rings and, depending on their source, can exhibit a variety of side modifications resulting from oxygenation, nitrogenation, and alkylation.Objectives: Here we discuss the increasing ability of contemporary analytical methods to distinguish not only different chemical structures among PAHs but also their concentrations in environmental media. Using seafood contamination following the Deepwater Horizon accident as an example, we identify issues that are emerging in the PAH risk assessment process because of increasing analytical sensitivity for individual PAHs, and we describe the paucity of toxicological literature for many of these compounds.Discussion: PAHs, including the large variety of chemically modified or substituted PAHs, are naturally occurring and may constitute health risks if human populations are exposed to hazardous levels. However, toxicity evaluations have not kept pace with modern analytic methods and their increased ability to detect substituted PAHs. Therefore, although it is possible to measure these compounds in seafood and other media, we do not have sufficient information on the potential toxicity of these compounds to incorporate them into human health risk assessments and characterizations.Conclusions: Future research efforts should strategically attempt to fill this toxicological knowledge gap so human health risk assessments of PAHs in environmental media or food can be better determined. This is especially important in the aftermath of petroleum spills.Citation: Wickliffe J, Overton E, Frickel S, Howard J, Wilson M, Simon B, Echsner S, Nguyen D, Gauthe D, Blake D, Miller C, Elferink C, Ansari S, Fernando H, Trapido E, Kane A. 2014. Evaluation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using analytical methods, toxicology, and risk assessment research: seafood safety after a petroleum spill as an example. Environ Health Perspect 122:6–9; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1306724
In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill adversely impacted many communities along the Gulf of Mexico. Effects on Gulf waters, marshes, aquatic life, and fisheries were evident in the following days, months, and years. Through studying affected communities’ perceptions regarding the DWH accident, we aim to identify behavioral changes, understand public information sources, and inform dissemination strategies that improve communications from regulatory agencies. Over a three-year period (2012 −2015), residents (n = 192) from 7 coastal parishes in southeast Louisiana were surveyed about their perceptions and behaviors before, during, and after the DWH accident. Self-reported consumption of local seafood decreased significantly (50%) during the DWH oil spill but returned to pre-event reported levels by 2015. However, negative seafood quality perceptions remain and have not returned to what were generally positive pre-event levels. Over 30% of study participants trust relatives, friends, and neighbors more than government officials or scientists as information sources regarding locally harvested seafood. Importantly, nearly 50% of participants report that they lack the information needed to make informed decisions regarding the safety of consuming local seafood. We conclude that a lack of information and trust in government agencies exacerbated negative perceptions of oil spill-related dangers. In some cases, overestimation of perceived dangers likely led to behavioral modifications that persist today. Efforts should be made to improve relationships between public health agencies and communities in order to properly inform all citizens of risks following environmental disasters.
Background We sought to prospectively duplicate our retrospective findings showing prestorage leukoreduction (PS-LR) blunts the detrimental effect of aging on banked packed red blood cells (PRBCs) transfused after injury. Methods Over 19 months, trauma patients transfused > 4 units PRBCs and surviving at least 24 hours were followed. The age of each unit was collected. Results The cohort consisted of 153 patients. All models showed no association between advancing blood age and the likelihood of developing multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS) or infections regardless of whether mean age of blood was analyzed as a continuous variable, as a percentage of blood received which was <14 days old, or as a dichotomized value above or below 14 days old. Conclusions This prospective study duplicates our retrospective findings of an abrogation of the detrimental effects of advancing mean PRBC age on outcomes after trauma by performing PS-LR.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) represent a broad class of chemicals, many of which can be found in indoor air including residential indoor air. VOCs derive from a variety of sources including cleaning products, cooking practices, fragrances and fresheners, hobbies and at-home work behaviors. This study examined residential indoor air in homes (n = 99) in southeast Louisiana using passive organic vapor monitors and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to determine if select VOCs were present, at what concentrations, and if those posed any potential long-term health risks. Twenty-nine VOCs were targeted in cross-sectional analyses using a 48-h sampling period. Twelve VOCs were detected in most of the homes sampled including xylenes, pinenes, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, hexane, pentane, chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride. Concentrations of alkanes and BTEX compounds were highly correlated (Spearman’s r > 0.63, p < 0.0001). Using health risk measures (i.e. reference concentrations [RfCs] and inhalation unit risks [IURs]) available from the USEPA non-cancer risk assessments and cancer risk assessments were developed for some of these VOCs. Alkanes and BTEX compounds likely come from the same indoor source(s). Using existing health standards published by the USEPA, no unacceptable non-cancer risks were evident except under extremely high concentrations. Lifetime cancer risks, on the other hand, may well be considered unacceptable for chloroform and benzene (upper IUR) and for the combination of chloroform, benzene, and carbon tetrachloride. These exceeded a 1 in 10,000 cancer risk threshold in 35–50% of our simulations. Further study of residential indoor air in low-income women’s homes in this area is needed. Including a larger number of VOCs may reveal yet more potential health risks.
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