MULTI-PATHWAY RISK

ASSESSMENT
FOR CHILDREN LIVING NEAR
A
HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE
Dr. Yusniar Hanani Darundiati, STP, MKes
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
FACULTY OF PUBLIC HEALTH
DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY
SEMARANG INDONESIA
2015
Problem:
A hazardous waste site near a park in a residential area is
contaminated with the specic chemicals of concern
(COCs) shown in Table 20.1. You, as a public health
scientist, are tasked with determining whether excess
cancer and noncancer risks posed by these COCs at the
site to resident children are within acceptable regulatory
criteria. You will need to quantitatively estimate the
cumulative reasonable maximum exposure (RME)
carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic health risks associated
with childrens exposure to contaminated soil at the site via
incidental ingestion, dermal contact, and inhalation of
particulates pathways using the deterministic approach.
Chemical-specic toxicity information for risk
characterization is also included in the table.
Solution:
Risk is a function of exposure and toxicity, consisting of a four-step
paradigm as described in detail in NAS (1983) and EPA (1989). A
number of exposure parameters are integrated into an estimate of
dose received by an exposed individual via each exposure route
(ingestion, dermal contact or skin absorption, and inhalation). In the
estimation of health risks posed by hazardous waste sites, the
magnitude of human exposures, in general, is dependent on COC
concentration in soil, exposure parameters describing human
physiology (e.g., soil ingestion rate or body weight), and population-
specic parameters describing exposure behavior (exposure
frequency, duration). When evaluating subchronic or chronic
exposures to noncarcinogenic chemicals, dose is averaged over the
period of exposure, thus referred to as average daily dose (ADD).
However, for carcinogens, dose is averaged over an entire lifetime
(i.e., 70 years), thus referred to as lifetime average daily dose (LADD).
The ADD for noncarcinogenic COCs and LADD for carcinogenic COCs
are calculated for each exposure pathway as shown below: