Total exposure assessment methodology (team) study: Personal exposures, indoor-outdoor relationships, and breath levels of volatile organic compounds in New Jersey

Abstract

A total of 20 toxic, carcinogenic, or mutagenic organic compounds were measured in the air and drinking water of 355 residents of Bayonne and Elizabeth New Jersey, in the fall of 1981. The participants were selected from over 10,000 residents screened by a probability sampling technique to represent 128,000 persons (over the age of seven) who live in the two neighboring cities. Over one hundred geographic areas throughout the two cities were selected for monitoring. Each participant carried a personal sampler with him during his normal daily activities for two consecutive 12-h periods. (One resident in each of the 108 sampling segments had an identical sampler operating in the backyard for the same two 12-h periods.) All participants also collected two drinking water samples. At the end of the 24-h sampling period, all participants gave a sample of exhaled breath, which was analyzed for the same compounds. All participants also completed a questionnaire on their age, sex, occupations and activities during the sampling period. An extensive quality assurance program was carried out on all sampling/analysis activities. Eleven of the 20 chemicals were prevalent in air and 3 in water. Air was the most important pathway of exposure for 10 compounds, and drinking water was most important for 3 trihalomethanes. Ranges of exposures were extremely large, with differences of 3–4 orders of magnitude common. Median personal exposures were 2–5 times larger than median outdoor concentrations; maximum personal exposures were as much as 100 times corresponding maximum outdoor concentrations. Residence near major point sources had no effect on exposure but many common activities (filling a gas tank, visiting a dry cleaner, smoking) has significant effect on exposures.