Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology最新文献

Background: We previously demonstrated that aluminum cookware brought from Afghanistan by resettled families as well as some aluminum cookware available for purchase in the United States represent a previously unrecognized source of lead exposure. However, the extent to which this cookware represents a source of lead exposure to other United States residents is unclear.

Objectives: To test additional cookware for lead content and its propensity to leach lead and other toxic metals. This will further our understanding of the extent to which this cookware represents a lead poisoning risk in the United States and elsewhere.

Methods: We screened an additional 28 pieces of aluminum cookware and 5 brass items for lead content using an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer and used our leachate method to estimate the amount of lead that migrates into food. We also tested 17 additional stainless steel items to determine whether they would be safer alternatives.

Results: Many aluminum cookware products contained in excess of 100 parts per million (ppm) of lead. Many also leached enough lead under simulated cooking and storage conditions to exceed recommended dietary limits. One hindalium appam pan (an Indian frying pan/wok) leached sufficient lead to exceed the childhood limit by 1400-fold. Brass cookpots from India also yielded high lead levels, with one exceeding the childhood limit by over 1200-fold. In contrast, stainless steel cookware leached much lower levels of lead.

Impact: Aluminum and brass cookware available for purchase in the United States represents a previously unrecognized source of lead exposure.

Background: Soil is an understudied and underregulated pathway of chemical exposure, particularly for agricultural workers who cultivate food in soils. Little is known about how agricultural workers spend their time and how they may contact soil while growing food. Exposure factors are behavioral and environmental variables used in exposure estimation.

Objectives: Our study aimed to derive exposure factors describing how growers engage in different tasks and use those factors to advance the use of time-activity data to estimate soil ingestion exposures among agricultural workers.

Methods: We administered a meso-activity-based, season-specific soil contact activity questionnaire to 38 fruit and vegetable growers. We asked growers to estimate the frequency and duration of six meso-activities and describe how they completed them. We used questionnaire data to derive exposure factors and estimate empirical and simulated exposures to a hypothetical contaminant in soil via incidental ingestion using daily, hourly, and hourly-task-specific ingestion rates.

Results: We generated exposure factors characterizing the frequency and duration of six meso-activities by season, and self-reported soil contact, glove use, and handwashing practices by meso-activity and season. Seasonal average daily doses (ADDs) were similar across all three forms of ingestion rates. No consistent patterns regarding task-specific contributions to seasonal or annual ADDs were observed.

Background: More frequent and intense wildfires will increase concentrations of smoke in schools and childcare settings. Low-cost sensors can assess fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) concentrations with high spatial and temporal resolution.

Objective: We sought to optimize the use of sensors for decision-making in schools and childcare settings during wildfire smoke to reduce children's exposure to PM_2.5.

Methods: We measured PM_2.5 concentrations indoors and outdoors at four schools in Washington State during wildfire smoke in 2020-2021 using low-cost sensors and gravimetric samplers. We randomly sampled 5-min segments of low-cost sensor data to create simulations of brief portable handheld measurements.

Results: During wildfire smoke episodes (lasting 4-19 days), median hourly PM_2.5 concentrations at different locations inside a single facility varied by up to 49.6 µg/m³ (maximum difference) during school hours. Median hourly indoor/outdoor ratios across schools ranged from 0.22 to 0.91. Within-school differences in concentrations indicated that it is important to collect measurements throughout a facility. Simulation results suggested that making handheld measurements more often and over multiple days better approximates indoor/outdoor ratios for wildfire smoke. During a period of unstable air quality, PM_2.5 over the next hour indoors was more highly correlated with the last 10-min of data (mean R² = 0.94) compared with the last 3-h (mean R² = 0.60), indicating that higher temporal resolution data is most informative for decisions about near-term activities indoors.

Impact statement: As wildfires continue to increase in frequency and severity, staff at schools and childcare facilities are increasingly faced with decisions around youth activities, building use, and air filtration needs during wildfire smoke episodes. Staff are increasingly using low-cost sensors for localized outdoor and indoor PM_2.5 measurements, but guidance in using and interpreting low-cost sensor data is lacking. This paper provides relevant information applicable for guidance in using low-cost sensors for wildfire smoke response.

Background: While the adverse health effects of civil aircraft noise are relatively well studied, impacts associated with more intense and intermittent noise from military aviation have been rarely assessed. In recent years, increased training at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, USA has raised concerns regarding the public health and well-being implications of noise from military aviation.

Objective: This study assessed the public health risks of military aircraft noise by developing a systematic workflow that uses acoustic and aircraft operations data to map noise exposure and predict health outcomes at the population scale.

Methods: Acoustic data encompassing seven years of monitoring efforts were integrated with flight operations data for 2020-2021 and a Department of Defense noise simulation model to characterize the noise regime. The model produced contours for day-night, nighttime, and 24-h average levels, which were validated by field monitoring and mapped to yield the estimated noise burden. Established thresholds and exposure-response relationships were used to predict the population subject to potential noise-related health effects, including annoyance, sleep disturbance, hearing impairment, and delays in childhood learning.

Results: Over 74,000 people within the area of aircraft noise exposure were at risk of adverse health effects. Of those exposed, substantial numbers were estimated to be highly annoyed and highly sleep disturbed, and several schools were exposed to levels that place them at risk of delay in childhood learning. Noise in some areas exceeded thresholds established by federal regulations for public health, residential land use and noise mitigation action, as well as the ranges of established exposure-response relationships.

Impact statement: This study quantified the extensive spatial scale and population health burden of noise from military aviation. We employed a novel GIS-based workflow for relating mapped distributions of aircraft noise exposure to a suite of public health outcomes by integrating acoustic monitoring and simulation data with a dasymetric population density map. This approach enables the evaluation of population health impacts due to past, current, and future proposed military operations. Moreover, it can be modified for application to other environmental noise sources and offers an improved open-source tool to assess the population health implications of environmental noise exposure, inform at-risk communities, and guide efforts in noise mitigation and policy governing noise legislation, urban planning, and land use.

Background: Exposure to food additives is widespread but up-to-date and accurate intake estimates are rarely available. The safety of the food additive aspartame is the subject of recent controversy and intake estimates for this nonnutritive sweetener are typically derived from surrogates such as diet soda consumption.

Objective: We describe an approach for developing nationally representative dietary exposure estimates for food additives that combines intake from dietary recalls and grocery purchasing information.

Methods: We combined NielsenIQ Homescan Consumer Panel purchasing data with the USDA Global Branded Food Products database and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate aspartame intake and prevalence of consumption for the US population. We examined points of departure for aspartame from CompTox Chemicals Dashboard to provide context for exposures and potential effects.

Results: Mean, 90th percentile, and 95th percentile aspartame intake estimates are below the acceptable daily intake (50 mg/kg/day) and are lower than estimates from previous decades. Groups with the highest aspartame intakes are non-Hispanic whites, 60- to 69-year-olds, and individuals on diabetic diets. Aspartame exposure is highly prevalent (62.6%) in the US including sensitive populations such as pregnant women and children.

Impact statement: Exposure to the widely consumed food additive aspartame is not well characterized, and concerns about potential health effects remain despite assurances of safety when consumed under conditions of intended use. This work provides current intake estimates for the US population with important comparisons across demographic groups and individuals on special diets. The approach includes ingredient statement and grocery purchasing data to capture all aspartame-containing products, beyond diet soda, in intake estimates. This framework also has the potential for application to other food ingredients.

Background: On April 11th, 2023, the My Way Trading (MWT) recycling facility in Richmond, Indiana caught fire, mandating the evacuation of local residents and necessitating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct air monitoring. The EPA detected elevated levels of plastic combustion-related air pollutants, including hydrogen cyanide and benzene.

Objective: We aimed to identify these and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present as well as to identify the potential hazard of each compound for various human health effects.

Methods: To identify the VOCs, we conducted air monitoring at sites within and bordering the evacuation zone using proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) and non-targeted analysis (NTA). To facilitate risk assessment of the emitted VOCs, we used the EPA Hazard Comparison Dashboard.

Results: We identified 46 VOCs, within and outside the evacuation zone, with average detection levels above local background levels measured in Middletown, OH. Levels of hydrogen cyanide and 4 other VOCs were at least 1.8-fold higher near the incidence site in comparison to background levels and displayed unique temporal and spatial patterns. The 46 VOCs identified had the highest hazardous potential for eye and skin irritation, with approximately 45% and 39%, respectively, of the VOCs classified as high and very high hazards for these endpoints. Notably, all detected VOC levels were below the hazard thresholds set for single VOC exposures; however, hazard thresholds for exposure to VOC mixtures are currently unclear.

Impact: This study serves as a proof-of-concept that PTR-MS coupled with NTA can facilitate rapid identification and hazard assessment of VOCs emitted following anthropogenic disasters. Furthermore, it demonstrates that this approach may augment future disaster responses to quantify additional VOCs present in complex combustion mixtures.