TY - JOUR
T1 - The spatial distribution of human exposure to PCBs around a former production site in Slovakia
AU - Wimmerová, Soňa
AU - Watson, Alan
AU - Drobná, Beata
AU - Šovčíková, Eva
AU - Weber, Roland
AU - Lancz, Kinga
AU - Patayová, Henrieta
AU - Richterová, Denisa
AU - Koštiaková, Vladimíra
AU - Jurečková, Dana
AU - Závacký, Pavol
AU - Strémy, Maximilián
AU - Jusko, Todd A.
AU - Palkovičová Murínová, Ľubica
AU - Hertz-Picciotto, Irva
AU - Trnovec, Tomáš
PY - 2015/8/7
Y1 - 2015/8/7
N2 - We evaluated concentrations of 15 PCB congeners in blood serum of 2047 adults, 431 8–9-year old children and 1134 mother-child pairs born in 2001–2003. These subjects were long-standing residents living up to 70 km (to the north) and up to 50 km (to the south) of the former Chemko Strážske PCB production facility in the Michalovce district of Slovakia. We plotted serum concentration against distance from the plant both with and without consideration of the direction of their homes from the site. The decrease in exposure with distance could be described by an exponential function which was dependent on direction and climatic parameters. By kriging we created maps depicting predicted isoconcentration contours for sex- and age-adjusted serum concentration of ∑PCBs for the same group of children, adults and mothers. The principle of our risk analysis was to relate serum concentration data, reflecting PCB body burden, using the critical concentrations established by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES 2010) as thresholds below which the probability of effects on health is regarded as negligible. We conclude that 10 years ago, around 200,000 residents were at risk in this densely populated area. Exposure has since decreased but the mechanism for this has not yet been studied.
AB - We evaluated concentrations of 15 PCB congeners in blood serum of 2047 adults, 431 8–9-year old children and 1134 mother-child pairs born in 2001–2003. These subjects were long-standing residents living up to 70 km (to the north) and up to 50 km (to the south) of the former Chemko Strážske PCB production facility in the Michalovce district of Slovakia. We plotted serum concentration against distance from the plant both with and without consideration of the direction of their homes from the site. The decrease in exposure with distance could be described by an exponential function which was dependent on direction and climatic parameters. By kriging we created maps depicting predicted isoconcentration contours for sex- and age-adjusted serum concentration of ∑PCBs for the same group of children, adults and mothers. The principle of our risk analysis was to relate serum concentration data, reflecting PCB body burden, using the critical concentrations established by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES 2010) as thresholds below which the probability of effects on health is regarded as negligible. We conclude that 10 years ago, around 200,000 residents were at risk in this densely populated area. Exposure has since decreased but the mechanism for this has not yet been studied.
KW - Contaminated site
KW - Geographic information system
KW - GIS
KW - Human biomonitoring
KW - PCBs
KW - Polychlorinated biphenyls
KW - POPs
KW - Risk assessment
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U2 - 10.1007/s11356-015-5047-9
DO - 10.1007/s11356-015-5047-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 26250810
AN - SCOPUS:84943200047
VL - 22
SP - 14405
EP - 14415
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
SN - 0944-1344
IS - 19
ER -