Keywords:Lead Foliar uptake Modelling Atmospheric particulate matter Lettuce Health risk assessment a b s t r a c tIn the context of peri-urban atmospheric pollution by industrial lead recycling emissions, metal can transfer to plant shoots. Home gardeners consuming their produce can therefore be exposed to metal pollution.The Human Health Risk Assessment Protocol (HHRAP) model from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) classically used in risk assessment provides foliar metal uptake predictions for large farms but is not adapted to cultures in kitchen gardens. Thus, this study developed a new model, entitled "DECA", which includes individually measured parameters and the washing of vegetables before human consumption.Results given by DECA and HHRAP models were compared with experimental measurements of lettuce. The data calculated by the DECA model were highly correlated with the measured values; the HHRAP model overestimates foliar lead uptake. Moreover, strong influences of factor of washing and time-dependent variations of loss coefficient were highlighted. Finally, the DECA model provided important risk assessment data regarding consumption of vegetables from kitchen gardens.
This chapter aimed to demonstrate, by several illustrated examples, that Human Health should be considered as another major challenge of global soil security by emphasizing the fact that (a) soil contamination is a worldwide issue, estimations can be done based on local contamination but the extent and content of diffuse contamination is largely unknown; (b) although soil is able to store, filter and reduce contamination, it can also transform and make accessible soil contaminants and their metabolites, contributing then to human health impacts. The future scientific and societal challenges related to Soil-Human Health studies and soil security dimensions are discussed afterwards based on current programs and literature review.
Following the wreck of the oil tanker ERIKA off the north-west coast of France in December 1999, cleaning up of the beaches involved considerable work, which in any case could not be perfect. This raised the question of the short- and long-term health risks for the future bathers related to the toxicity of the remaining oil polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This risk assessment study was conducted to help health authorities plan risk management policies and inform the public. Thirty-six beaches were selected, representing a sample of the most frequently encountered topographic and beach usage situations; seven "control" beaches, unspoiled by ERIKA, were also investigated. Samples of water and sand were taken from each site, as well as from the surface of rocks. The 16 PAHs selected by the U.S. EPA were quantified in each environment. Several scenarios of exposure were contemplated: (1) a child between 2 and 4 years accidentally ingesting a small ball of fuel, (2) a child daily exposed throughout his holiday-time stay, (3) an adult (including a pregnant woman) spending his/her holidays on the coast, (4) an adult working on the beach, (5) and an adult practicing water sports. Among the available and significant toxicological values, the most conservative ones were selected for computing risks. The sand and water, after decontamination, were slightly polluted (respectively, 7.8 microg/kg and 23.3 ng/l of total 16 PAHs), with values similar to those found in the control beaches. By contrast, the rocky areas in some places were still highly polluted (up to 23 mg/kg on the surface layer). No lethal risk was found for a young child who had accidentally ingested a small ball of fuel. The life-long excess risks for skin cancer and for all other cancers were about 10-5 in scenarios including contact with the polluted rocks. In all other cases, excess risks were considerably lower. The hazard quotient for teratogenic effects was very small, except in scenarios where pregnant women would walk among rocks containing high pollution levels. In conclusion, exposure was mainly associated with polluted water among children, and with spoiled rocks for adults. Despite uncertainties, mainly dealing with the prediction of long-term risks following a short-term exposure, this study showed that beaches where pollution was no longer visible after decontamination did not entail any significant health risks and could be opened to the public.
Integration of the predictions of two models with dose measurements in a case study of children exposed to the emissions of a lead smelter AbstractThe predictions of two source-to-dose models are systematically evaluated with observed data collected in a village polluted by a currently operating secondary lead smelter. Both models were built up from several sub-models linked together and run using Monte-Carlo simulation, to calculate the distribution children's blood lead levels attributable to the emissions from the facility. The first model system is composed of the CalTOX model linked to a recoded version of the IEUBK model. This system provides the distribution of the media-specific lead concentrations (air, soil, fruit, vegetables and blood) in the whole area investigated. The second model consists of a statistical model to estimate the lead deposition on the ground, a modified version of the model HHRAP and the same recoded version of the IEUBK model. This system provides an estimate of the concentration of exposure of specific individuals living in the study area. The predictions of the first model system were improved in terms of accuracy and precision by performing a sensitivity analysis and using field data to correct the default value provided for the leaf wet density. However, in this case study, the first model system tends to overestimate the exposure due to exposed vegetables. The second model was tested for nine children with contrasting exposure conditions. It managed to capture the blood levels for eight of them. In the last case, the exposure of the child by pathways not considered in the model may explain the failure of the model. The interest of this integrated model is to provide outputs with lower variance than the first model system, but at the moment further tests are necessary to conclude about its accuracy.
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