Lifetime Health Risk Assessment from Exposure of Recreational Users to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Abstract

In order to assess the lifetime risk of skin cancer for recreational users from dermal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), sediment samples were collected from beach sites along the St. Marys River near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and in Hamilton Harbor and Toronto Harbor, Ontario, and analyzed for PAHs. Dermal exposure and lifetime skin cancer risk were estimated as follows: Concentrations of 11 PAHs with sufficient or limited evidence of carcinogenicity or mutagenicity were converted to benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) equivalents using toxic equivalency factors (TEFs). Lifetime dermal exposure values were derived based on the BaP equivalents in the silt + clay fraction taken as representative of suspended sediment particulates to which recreational users would be exposed. The lifetime health risk of skin cancer associated with such exposures was above the negligible risk level of 1.0 x 10(-6) at offshore Rytac, Lake George Channel, and Bell Point beaches in the St. Marys River; at Pier 4 Park in Hamilton Harbor; and at Humber Bay, Sunnyside Beach, Cherry Beach, and Water Rats Sailing Club in Toronto Harbor. Risk was negligible inshore at the Rytac and Bell Point beaches and at Squirrel Island and Ojibway Trailer Park along St. Marys River, at Lax Beach in Hamilton Harbor; and at Centre Island in Toronto Harbor. Strategies to reduce risk were developed with these communities; a key recommendation was to take a bath or shower within 24 h after a swim because virtually all the PAHs on the skin would be removed.

Assessing hazardous risks of human exposure to temple airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

“…c LN denotes lognormal distribution. testinal absorption (ABS GI ) factor of 0.31, respectively [27,28]. We averaged those two CSF values and resulted in the arithmetic mean 30.5 (mg kg −1 d −1 ) −1 .…”

Health Risk Assessment After Decontamination of the Beaches Polluted by the Wrecked ERIKA Tanker

“…Studies conducted in other occupational or environmental situations are rare. Hussain et al (17) calculated an excess risk of skin cancer among people who would, hypothetically, practice water sports regularly throughout their life in water polluted by PAHs. Their life-long estimate, for a few days exposure per year throughout a period of 30 years, is approximately 10 −4 for the highest exposure levels, that is, for zones where the sediments in contact with the body are the most polluted.…”

“…However, Hussain et al (17) proposed a unit risk through an extrapolation model developed by Krewski et al, (29) using data from an experimental study. (30) They expressed this unit risk in mg/kg bw/day because the whole body surface of bathers was exposed.…”

“…(12−16) Excess risks of skin cancer due to PAHs were estimated between 10 −4 and 10 −7 among subjects practicing water sports for 30 years, in contact with contaminated sea sediments, in Canada. (17) To our knowledge, no data are available on excess risks for skin cancer in an occupational setting. Threshold levels for 1-hydroxypyrene have been suggested.…”

Enhanced Bioremediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by Environmentally Friendly Techniques

“…PAHs are hydrophobic chemicals, with aqueous solubility decreasing from the low mg/L range for the two-and three-ring compounds to 1 µg/L or below for the five-and six-ring compounds (11). Because of the wide distribution of the PAHs in the environment, human exposure to the PAHs is likely to occur from dermal contact, ingestion of particles, inhalation of airborne dust, or bioaccumulation in the food chains (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Point sources of PAHs are the most significant environmental concern, due to the relatively high contaminant concentration at the source sites and the associated co-contaminants (eg., aliphatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and BTEX).…”