No abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the exposure levels of workers to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on gasworks sites by the measurement of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene. Start-shift and end-shift urine samples were taken every day during an entire week (Monday to Friday), once in November and a second time in June. Four groups of workers were selected according to their activity. Increased exposure was only found among volunteers involved in the remediation of a site, 0.16 to 2.31 mumol/mol creatinine in non-smokers. The median of the non-smoker referent group was 0.02 mumol/mol creatinine (95% confidence interval, 0.01 to 0.04). Smokers had greater exposure levels than non-smokers in every group. Within and between variability was around 200%. Assessment of the exposure of persons on contaminated soil is possible, with the condition that the exposed subjects come in direct contact with the soil.

BackgroundInhabitants of Guadeloupe are chronically exposed to low dose of chlordecone via local food. The corresponding health impacts have not been quantified. Nevertheless the public authority implemented an exposure reduction program in 2003. We develop methods for quantifying the health impacts of chlordecone and present the results in 2 articles: 1. hazard identification, exposure-response functions (ERF) and exposure in Guadeloupe, 2. Health impacts and benefits of exposure reduction. Here is the first article.MethodsRelevant data are extracted from publications searched in Medline and Toxline. Available knowledges on mode of action and key-event hazards of chlordecone are used to identify effects of chlordecone that could occur at low dose. Then a linear ERF is derived for each possible effect. From epidemiological data, ERF is the delta relative risk (RR-1) divided by the corresponding delta exposure. From animal studies, ERF is the benchmark response (10 %) divided by the best benchmark dose modeled with BMDS2.4.0. Our goal is to obtain central values for the ERF slopes, applicable to typical human populations, rather than lower or upper bounds in the most sensitive species or sex.ResultsWe derive ERFs for 3 possible effects at chronic low chlordecone dose: cancers, developmental impairment, and hepatotoxicity. Neurotoxicity in adults is also a possible effect at low dose but we lack quantitative data for the ERF derivation. A renal toxicity ERF is derived for comparison purpose. Two ERFs are based on epidemiological studies: prostate cancer in men aged >44y (0.0019 per μg/Lblood) and altered neurodevelopment in boys (−0.32 QIpoint per μg/Lcord-blood). Two are based on animal studies: liver cancer (2.69 per mg/kg/d), and renal dysfunction in women (0.0022 per mg/kg/d).ConclusionThe methodological framework developed here yields ERFs for central risk estimates for non-genotoxic effects of chemicals; it is robust with regard to models used. This framework can be used generally to derive ERFs suitable for risk assessment and for cost-benefit analysis of public health decisions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12940-016-0160-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Polluted soils have become a public health problem. While population exposure to soil pollutants is generally quantified using multimedia models, their estimations have not been validated, and studies that attempted to do so are scarce. The objective of the SOLEX study was to compare the predictions of pyrene exposure levels (converted into 1 hydroxypyrene) computed by several models with the results of urinary 1-hydropyrene (1-HOP) assays among 110 employees working at three sites polluted during their past use as manufactured gas plants. Four models were used: AERIS (Canada), CalTOX (California, USA), CLEA (UK), and HESP (The Netherlands). Three occupational exposure scenarios--with office, mixed, and outdoor workers--were constructed, based upon job activities during two measurement campaigns, one in winter and one in summer. The exposure levels estimated by the four models could differ markedly (from 7 up to 80 times) according to the exposure scenario. Also, the predominant exposure routes differed according to the model (direct soil ingestion for HESP and CalTOX, inhalation for AERIS, and dermal absorption for CLEA). The predictions of CalTOX are consistent with the 1-HOP measurements for all the scenarios. For HESP, the consistency is observed for the scenarios, office and mixed, for which the pyrene level in the soil is low. AERIS and CLEA yield results that are systematically above the 1-HOP measurements. This study confirms that validation of the models is crucial and points out to the need to proceed to assess components of the models that are the most influential using appropriate statistical analysis in combination with true field data.

L'évaluation des impacts sanitaires liés à la pollution atmosphérique requiert la connaissance quantifiée de l'exposition des populations. Cette exposition peut être mesurée ou estimée, individuellement ou collectivement. Au plan collectif, plusieurs approches permettent d'estimer la répartition spatiale des expositions : 1) l'approche dite « déterministe » part de l'inventaire des sources et de leurs flux d'émission et calcule les concentrations atmosphériques résultantes, 2) l'approche dite « probabiliste » spatialise des résultats de mesures issues du réseau de surveillance de la qualité de l'air par interpolation géostatistique. Outre leurs incertitudes propres, la pertinence de ces deux approches dépend des objectifs de l'étude des impacts sanitaires. Concernant la prévision des bénéfices sanitaires attribuables aux normes limitant les émissions des véhicules routiers, une combinaison des deux approches s'avère nécessaire. Cette combinaison est possible par l'intermédiaire des méthodes géostatistiques, qui présentent en outre l'avantage de fournir une estimation des incertitudes liées à la cartographie du polluant. L'objectif de cette étude est donc de tester la faisabilité d'une approche combinée déterministe/ probabiliste pour la détermination de la répartition spatiale de l'exposition moyenne annuelle aux PM 10 en France métropolitaine en 2000. Elle fait partie d'une étude portant sur l'évaluation des impacts sanitaires de la pollution atmosphérique liée au trafic routier dans les zones urbaines, en se focalisant en particulier sur les enfants et en comparant les situations en 2000 et en 2010. Cette étude s'inscrit dans le cadre du programme UNECE-WHO Pan European Program for Transport, Health and Environment (THE PEP Project) : « Transport-related health impacts and their costs and benefits with a particular focus on children ». Les avantages et inconvénients des méthodes permettant d'évaluer l'exposition des populations à la pollution atmosphérique sont tout d'abord discutés. Le cas d'étude et les principales étapes d'une combinaison géostatistique sont ensuite présentés, ainsi que les résultats obtenus pour l'évaluation des populations exposées aux PM 10 en France en 2000. Mots clés Évaluation des impacts sanitaires. Cartographie. PM 10. Géostatistique. Exposition.

No abstract

In this part of the series we explain the detailed literature review and the calculations of impacts and damage costs of mercury and lead. Methodology and general assumptions are explained in the companion article, Part 1 of this series, and the spreadsheet with the calculations is available as a supplementary file of Part 1. For mercury, the damage cost is 22,937 € /kg if there is a no-effect threshold, 52,129 € /kg if there is none; 91% is due to mortality from heart disease, the rest from loss of IQ points. For lead, the damage cost is 29,343 € /kg, about 80% due to mortality and 20% due to IQ loss; there does not seem to be a no-effect threshold. These costs are per kg of emitted pollutant.

Significant quantities of toxic metals are emitted to the air by the incineration of waste, as well as by the combustion of coal and oil. To optimize the regulations for their emissions one needs to know the cost of their damage. That requires an impact pathway analysis, with realistic dispersion models, exposure-response functions, and monetary values. In this article we explain the method and assumptions and present results for arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead, the most important toxic metals in terms of damage cost. We also estimate their contribution to the damage cost of waste incineration and electric power from coal for typical situations in Europe. The damage costs of As, Cd, and Pb are much higher than previous estimates because of a large number of new epidemiological studies, implying more and more serious health effects than what had been known before. New cost-benefit studies for the abatement of toxic metal emissions are advisable. The discussion of the epidemiological studies and the derivation of exposure-response functions are presented in two companion articles, one for As and Cd, the other for Hg and Pb.