Methods for Assessing Exposure of Human and Non-human Biota: (46 SCOPE Report S.)

This work is based on a workshop held in Mexico City, 12-16th August 1985 conducted under the Scientific Group for Methodologies for the Safety Evaluation of Chemicals (SGOMSEC). This is an organization committed to the critical evaluation of methods for safety evaluation which are important for the protection of the natural environment and human health. Risk assessment requires estimates of exposure. This volume concerns itself with the exposure component of risk assessment which it approaches in three ways: (1) the direct evaluation of the exposure as measured in the air, in the water, in soils, and in food and so forth to the organism through consumption of food, water or air; (2) consideration of the movement of the chemicals from distant sources to the point of exposure of the exposed organism including possible alteration en route; (3) analysis of exposed tissues. In effect, this uses the exposed organism as a sampling device, these are sometimes called markers of exposure. In some cases, one of these approaches suffices; in others, several or even all the means of exposure assessment may be required.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Joint report: exposure measurements - definition of exposure, objectives of exposure assessment, approaches for determining exposures, study designs, human gastro-intestinal and skin exposure, non-human exposure, uses of existing data, recommendations; modeling of transport and alteration of chemicals - the use of models in exposure assessment, stages of modeling processes, summary of models, when are simple models applicable?, the limitations of modeling of transport and fate, estimation methods, laboratory/field consistency of coefficients, uncertainty of transfer coefficients, alternative approaches to validation, examples of exposure calculation, recommendations; biological monitoring of exposure to chemicals - toxicokinetics, determination of internal dose, biological exposure markers, advantages and limitations of biological markers, ecological responses as indicators of exposure, recommendations, references; analytical methods - air. Part 2 Contributed chapters: techniques to estimate potential exposures to chemicals in the environment, John D.Spingler and Lance A.Wallace; geographically based models for surface and estuarine waters and river/aquifer interfaces, Jean J.Fried; time integrated compartment models, Helge Gydesen; modeling chemical transport in the unsaturated zone of the subsurface, Warren T.Piver; geographically-based atmospheric models, D.M.Whelpdale; some specifications of multimedia exposure monitoring assessment, K.A.Bustueva; comparative analysis of indoor and outdoor TSP concentrations in Bombay, Toronto and Zagreb, M.Fugus and H.W.de Koning; micro-area vs. personal monitoring - estimation of exposure to carbon monoxide (CO), Naihua Duan, et al; sampling and analysis of water to assess exposure, A.J.Dobbs and D.T.E.Hunt; monitoring systems for the assessment of dietary intakes of contaminants, G.K.Gheorghiev; quantifying chemicals in groundwater used for human consumption, Warren T.Piver; methods for assessing exposure of insects, V.Landa et al; biological markers in environmental epidemiology - constraints and opportunities, Peter H.Gann et al; biological monitoring in the epidemiology of chronic effects of cadmium in workers, Janusz A.Indulski and Marek Jakubowski; measurement of macromolecular adducts as indicators of carcinogen exposure, R.Colin Garner; role of cytogenetic surveillance to assess exposure to carcinogens, Harri Vainio and Marja Sorsa; measurement of metabolites as indicators of exposure to chemicals, Stuart A.Slorach; direct indicators of exposure - monitoring chemicals in tissues, body fluids, urine and exhaled air, R.L.Zielhuis; statistical methods to estimate human exposure to environmental pollutants, Mel Kolander; Part contents.