Particle size distributions, size concentration relationships, and adherence to hands of selected geologic media derived from mining, smelting, and quarrying activities

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bergstrom C ; Kissel J ; Shirai J
• Description:
  Hand-to-mouth activity, especially in children, is a potentially significant pathway of exposure to soil contaminants. Hand-mouthing behavior is of particular concern in areas impacted by mining, smelting, and quarrying activities as these activities may lead to elevated levels of heavy metals in soil. In order to estimate potential exposures to contaminated geologic media attributable to hand-to-mouth contact, it is useful to characterize adherence of those media to skin, as contaminant concentrations in adhered media may differ greatly from unfractionated, whole media concentrations. Such an investigation has been undertaken to aid estimation of exposures to arsenic, cadmium, lead, and zinc in nine different geologic media collected in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. After establishing the particle size distribution of each medium (fractions < 63 µm, 63-150 µm, 150-250 µm, and 250 µm-2mm were determined) and target elemental concentrations within each particle size fraction, an active handling protocol involving six volunteers was conducted. Wet media always adhered to a greater extent than dry media and adhered media generally had higher elemental concentrations than bulk media. Regression analyses suggest smaller particle fractions may have higher elemental concentrations. Results of application of a maximum likelihood estimation technique generally indicate that handling of dry media leads to preferential adherence of smaller particle sizes, while handling of wet media does not. Because adhered material can differ greatly in particle size distribution from that found in bulk material, use of bulk concentrations in exposure calculations may lead to poor estimation of actual exposures. Since lead has historically been a metal of particular concern, EPA's Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) Model was used to examine the potential consequences of evaluating ingestion of the selected media assuming concentrations in adhering versus bulk media. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Dust Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollution Geology Metals Metals, Heavy Mining Occupational Health Particulate Matter Poisoning Safety Skin

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• Keywords:
  Adherence Author Keywords: Dermal Biokinetics Environmental-contamination Environmental-exposure Environmental-hazards Environmental-pollution Exposure-assessment Heavy-metal-poisoning Heavy-metals Metal-compounds Metal-dusts Metal-mining Particulate-dust Particulates Skin-exposure Soil Soil-bacteria Soil-sampling

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• ISSN:
  0048-9697
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  409
• Issue:
  20
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040107
• Citation:
  Sci Total Environ 2011 Sep; 409(20):4247-4256
• Contact Point Address:
  John Kissel, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE Ste. 100, Box 354695, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
• CAS Registry Number:
  Arsenic (CAS RN 7440-38-2) ; Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9) ; Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1) ; Zinc (CAS RN 7440-66-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Science of the Total Environment
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2951816c5dd9c89d590a6a517a576245d80be174e565b28acb6770236cbc75846a3b492fd728be5280bd20fa72b0cb65225c5eb6716951e594aed6a32e7f2fbc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193081/cdc_193081_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 656.40 KB ]