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NERL Safe Food Research
Introduction
Current Research
Recent Accomplishments
Fact Sheets
Related Web Sites
Prior to FY04 Safe Food research at NERL was conducted under Goal 3: Safe Food, of EPA's year 2000 strategic plan. The 2003 EPA Strategic Plan moved safe food research into Goal 4: Healthy Communities and Ecosystems. This research will be integrated into EPA's Research and Development Multi-Year Plan for Human Health.
Introduction
Human exposure only occurs if, and when, a person comes into contact with a pollutant. If there is no contact, then there is no exposure and no resulting adverse health effect. NERL's research efforts in human exposure measurements, human exposure methods, and human exposure models are designed to provide a sound, scientifically-based approach to understanding how people are actually exposed to pollutants, and for estimating the magnitude of any harmful exposures. The current focus of NERL's exposure research is on children's aggregate (i.e., from all routes of exposure) and cumulative (i.e., from multiple chemicals) exposures to pesticides. This research specifically supports the problem-driven issues associated with implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). It responds to the FQPA provisions requiring consideration of children's exposure to pesticide residues from all sources, including foods, drinking water, and pesticide applications in homes, schools, daycare centers, and other microenvironments where children spend time. FQPA also mandates an additional safety factor of up to ten-fold (the 10X factor) to account for uncertainties in children's exposures. The uncertainties in estimating exposures for infants and children are especially large because their activities and behaviors (e.g., crawling, mouthing) potentially lead to dermal and indirect ingestion routes of exposure which are hard to quantify and for which little information currently exists.
The overall goal of NERL's Human Exposure Research Program is to provide human exposure measurements, methods and models that will help reduce some of the technical limitations that hamper current exposure assessments in the Agency. EPA's Science Advisory Board has identified some of those limitations as "technical limitations in the currently available exposure measurement techniques, by severe limitations of the currently available databases containing exposure and exposure-relevant data, by reliance on numerous assumptions which have been proven incorrect or are not supported by common experience and/or direct observations, and by the current fragmentation and lack of coherence of available models for different media, pathways, chemicals, etc." Problem driven research is designed to increase understanding of, and to quantify, children's aggregate and cumulative exposures to pesticides and to estimate the dose resulting from these exposures. Specific objectives include:
- To develop aggregate and cumulative exposure and dose models to assess and predict exposures from non-agricultural use of pesticides;
- To develop methods and approaches for understanding pesticide use by people in their environments, especially in and around the home;
- To identify and characterize major factors that contribute to the magnitude and variability in human aggregate and cumulative exposure to pesticides;
- To design and implement exposure studies and analyze and interpret exposure measurements data to support model development and risk assessment.
Current Research
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Recent Accomplishments
Key Documents
- The Challenge of Assessing Children's Exposure to Pesticides 01/01/2000
Cohenhubal, E. A., L. S. Sheldon, M. J. Zufall, J. M. Burke, and K. W. Thomas. The Challenge of Assessing Children's Exposure to Pesticides. Analysis of Environmental Endocrine Disruptors, Chapter3. JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE ANALYSIS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY. Oxford University Press, Cary, NC, 10(S6):638-649, (2000).
Abstract: In implementing the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has adopted a policy that the exposure factors and models used to assess and predict exposure to pesticides should generally be conservative. Some elements of exposure assessments for FQPA are screening level they are both uncertain and conservative. If more realistic assessments are to be conducted, then research is required to reduce uncertainty associated with the factors and models used in the exposure assessments. To develop the strategy for conducting this research, critical exposure pathways and factors were identified, and the quality and quantity of data associated with default assumptions for exposure factors were evaluated. Then, based on our current understanding of the pathways that are potentially most important and most uncertain, significant research requirements were identified and prioritized to improve the data available and assumptions used to assess children's aggregate exposure to pesticides. Based on the results of these efforts, four priority research areas were identified: (1) pesticide use patterns in microenvironments where children spend time, (2) temporal and spatial distribution of pesticides following application in a residential setting, (3) dermal and nondietary ingestion exposure assessment methods and exposure factors, (4) dietary exposure assessment methods and exposure factors for infants and young children. The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) research strategy in support of FQPA is designed to address these priority research needs.
This paper has been reviewed in accordance with the US EPA's peer and administrative review policies and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not consitutute endorsement or recommendation for use.
Research Abstracts
2003
- Design for a Field Study to Evaluate Protocols for Obtaining Reliable Data on Children's Exposure to Pesticides
(PDF Format, 3 pp., 112 KB)
- Understanding Exposure Factors that may Lead to High-Level, Short-Term Exposures of Children to Pesticides
(PDF Format, 3 pp., 114 KB)
- The Children's Total Exposure to Pesticides and Other Persistent Organic Pollutants (CTEPP) Study
(PDF Format, 3 pp., 97 KB)
2001
- Human Exposure Measurements: Children's Focus & Support of the Food Quality Protection Act
(PDF Format,5 pp., 262K)
- Immunochemical Methods
(PDF Format, 3 pp., 84K)
- Minnesota Children's Pesticide Exposure Study (MCPES)
(PDF Format, 3 pp., 248K)
- National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) and Minnesotat Children's Pesticide Exposure Studies
(PDF Format, 4 pp., 250K)
- Second-Generation Multimedia, Multipathway Exposure Model
(PDF Format, 4 pp., 89K)
2000
- First Generation Multimedia, Multipathway Exposure Models
(PDF Format, 4 pp., 15K)
- Handling of Food by Young Children Can Increase Dietary Exposure to Pesticides
(PDF Format, 3 pp., 11K)
Fact Sheets
Related Web Sites
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