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. 2007 Aug;115(8):1160-8.
doi: 10.1289/ehp.9884.

Ranking cancer risks of organic hazardous air pollutants in the United States

Miranda M Loh  1 , Jonathan I Levy, John D Spengler, E Andres Houseman, Deborah H Bennett
Affiliations

Ranking cancer risks of organic hazardous air pollutants in the United States

Miranda M Loh et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Aug.

Abstract

Background: In this study we compared cancer risks from organic hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) based on total personal exposure summed across different microenvironments and exposure pathways.

Methods: We developed distributions of personal exposure concentrations using field monitoring and modeling data for inhalation and, where relevant, ingestion pathways. We calculated risks for a nonoccupationally exposed and nonsmoking population using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) unit risks. We determined the contribution to risk from indoor versus outdoor sources using indoor/outdoor ratios for gaseous compounds and the infiltration factor for particle-bound compounds.

Results: With OEHHA's unit risks, the highest ranking compounds based on the population median are 1,3-butadiene, formaldehyde, benzene, and dioxin, with risks on the order of 10(-4)-10(-5). The highest risk compounds with the U.S. EPA unit risks were dioxin, benzene, formaldehyde, and chloroform, with risks on a similar order of magnitude. Although indoor exposures are responsible for nearly 70% of risk using OEHHA's unit risks, when infiltration is accounted for, inhalation of outdoor sources contributed 50% to total risk, on average. Additionally, 15% of risk resulted from exposures through food, mainly due to dioxin.

Conclusions: Most of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, benzene, acetaldehyde, and 1,3-butadiene risk came from outdoor sources, whereas indoor sources were primarily responsible for chloroform, formaldehyde, and naphthalene risks. The infiltration of outdoor pollution into buildings, emissions from indoor sources, and uptake through food are all important to consider in reducing overall personal risk to HAPs.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representation of personal exposure and risk model. Refer to tables for compound concentrations. Abbreviations: G1, group 1 VOCs; G2, group 2 VOCs; NHAPS, National Human Activity Patterns Survey; μEi, exposure in microenvironment i.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Baseline risk ranking using OEHHA toxicity estimates. 1,3-Dichloropropene does not have a unit risk value from OEHHA, so the U.S. EPA risk estimate was used. Symbols represent unit risks and measures and distribution medians. Smoking home exposure accounts for the high exposure for benzene, formaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, acetaldehyde, naphthalene, and PAH-CD and PAH-B2. High home exposure from mothballs and associated products accounts for 1,4-dichlorobenzene. The top 1% emission counties are the high scenarios for 1,3-dichloropropene and vinyl chloride. Bars represent 5th and 95th percentiles. Boxes represent the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles
Figure 3
Figure 3
Risk from ingestion and inhalation. (A) Mean total risk calculated with OEHHA’s cancer potency values (6 × 10−4). (B) Median total risk using the federal U.S. EPA’s values (1 × 10−3). The inhalation fraction is broken down further into several of the higher-risk compounds.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The contribution of exposure in microenvironments compared with indoor (home, offices, shops, and restaurants) and outdoor source contribution to inhalation risk for benzene, formaldehyde, and the TEF-weighted exposures to PAH-B2. Trans, transportation microenvironment. Bars represent 5th and 95th percentiles. Boxes represent the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles.
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