Abstract
Children can be exposed to arsenic through play areas which may have contaminated fill material from historic land use. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the risk to children who play and/or spend time at baseball fields with soils shown to have arsenic above background levels. Arsenic in soils at the study sites located in Miami, FL, USA showed distinct distributions between infield, outfield, and areas adjacent to the fields. Using best estimates of exposure factors for children baseball scenarios, results show that non-cancer risks depend most heavily upon the age of the person and the arsenic exposure level. For extreme exposure scenarios evaluated in this study, children from 1 to 2 years were at highest risk for non-cancer effects (Hazard Quotient, HQ > 2.4), and risks were higher for children exhibiting pica (HQ > 9.7) which shows the importance of testing fill for land use where children may play. At the study sites, concentration levels of arsenic resulted in a range of computed cancer risks that differed by a factor of 10. In these sites, the child’s play position also affected risk. Outfield players, with a lifetime exposure to these arsenic levels, could have 10 times more increased chance of experiencing cancers associated with arsenic (i.e., lung, bladder, skin) in comparison to infielders. The distinct concentration distributions observed between these portions of the baseball fields emphasize the need to delineate contaminated areas in public property where citizens may spend more free time. This study also showed a need for more tools to improve the risk estimates for child play activities. For instance, more refined measurements of exposure factors for intake (e.g., inhalation rates under rigorous play activities, hand to mouth rates), exposure frequency (i.e., time spent in various activities) and other exposure factors (e.g., soil particulate emission rates at baseball play fields) can help pinpoint risk on baseball fields where arsenic levels may be a concern.
Highlights
Arsenic is an environmental toxicant of concern globally [1,2,3], and ranks #1 on the U.S substance priority list due to frequency at facilities on the national priority list, toxicity, and potential for human exposures [4,5]
As we looked at alternate exposures we found that 95% upper confidence limits (UCL) considered distributional skewness and in some cases outliers
A risk assessment was conducted in this study to evaluate non-cancer acute and chronic and cancer outcomes specific to baseball field exposures, given data that was readily available
Summary
Arsenic is an environmental toxicant of concern globally [1,2,3], and ranks #1 on the U.S substance priority list due to frequency at facilities on the national priority list, toxicity, and potential for human exposures [4,5]. Arsenic is a metalloid, occurring naturally and anthropogenically in both inorganic (as arsenite and arsenate) and organic forms (as MMA—monomethylarsonic acid and DMA-dimethylarsinic acid). Arsenic is found naturally in the environment, in soils and rocks which in turn can be dispersed in nature through weathering, runoff, mining, and volcanic activity [6]. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 67; doi:10.3390/ijerph15010067 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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