Assessments of drinking water safety rely on the assumption that ingestion represents the principal route of exposure. A review of the experimental literature revealed that skin penetration rates for solvents are remarkably high, and that the stratum corneum is a less effective barrier to penetration than traditionally assumed.Based on published skin absorption rates, we used Fick's law (JO = Kp A C°) to determine permeability constants for selected compounds. We then calculated dose per kilogram for nine different exposure situations and compared this to the oral dose per kilogram.
IntroductionRegulators today face complex problems in assessing the health hazards associated with contamination of drinking water supplies. Due to the general absence of federal drinking water standards for the volatile solvents commonly found in contaminated water, state and local regulatory agencies must decide whether to discontinue or restrict use of water supplies on a case by case basis. Such decisions are heavily, if not exclusively, based on the recommendation of a toxicologist.