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Environmental Health Criteria 214

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HUMAN EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT<br />

assessment.<br />

Table 1. Different aspects of the contact between people and pollution<br />

that are potentially important in exposure analysis<br />

(Sexton et al., 1995b)<br />

Agent(s) biological, chemical, physical, single<br />

agent, multiple agents, mixtures<br />

Source(s) anthropogenic/non-anthropogenic, area/point,<br />

stationary/mobile, indoor/outdoor<br />

Transport/carrier medium air, water, soil, dust, food, product/item<br />

Exposure pathways(s) eating contaminated food,<br />

breathing contaminated workplace air<br />

touching residential surface<br />

Exposure concentration mg/kg (food), mg/litre (water), µg/m 3 (air),<br />

µg/cm 2 contaminated surface), % by weight,<br />

fibres/m 3 (air)<br />

Exposure route(s) inhalation, dermal contact, ingestion,<br />

multiple routes<br />

Exposure duration seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks,<br />

months, years, lifetime<br />

Exposure frequency continuous, intermittent, cyclic, random,<br />

rare<br />

Exposure setting(s) occupational/non-occupational,<br />

residential/non-residential, indoors/outdoors<br />

Exposed population general population, population subgroups,<br />

individuals<br />

Geographic scope site/source specific, local, regional,<br />

national, international, global<br />

Time frame past, present, future, trends<br />

1.2.1 Exposure and exposure concentration<br />

Exposure, as defined earlier, is the contact of a biological,<br />

chemical, or physical agent with the outer part of the human body,<br />

such as the skin, mouth or nostrils. Although there are many instances<br />

where contact occurs with an undiluted chemical (e.g., use of<br />

degreasing chemicals for cleaning hands), contact more often occurs<br />

with a carrier medium (air, water, food, dust or soil) that contains<br />

dilute amounts of the agent. "Exposure concentration" (e.g., mg/litre,<br />

mg/kg, µg/m 3 ) is defined as the concentration of an environmental<br />

agent in the carrier medium at the point of contact with the body.<br />

1.2.2 Exposure estimation by integration and averaging<br />

A minimal description of exposure for a particular route must<br />

http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc<strong>214</strong>.htm<br />

Page 22 of 284<br />

6/1/2007

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