TY - JOUR
T1 - Probabilistic risk assessment of residential exposure to metal(loid)s in a mining impacted community
AU - Huerta, Diego
AU - Schobel, Taylor
AU - Alexander-Ozinskas, Annika
AU - Hild, Joanne
AU - Lauder, Jeff
AU - Reynolds, Peggy
AU - Von Behren, Julie
AU - Meltzer, Dan
AU - Ramírez-Andreotta, Mónica D.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program (Grant 25BB-1100 and 25BB-1101 ) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institute of Health under Award Number P42 ES004940 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/5/10
Y1 - 2023/5/10
N2 - The “Gold Country” region of California is impacted by legacy and active gold mines. Concomitantly, Gold Country has an increased rate of female breast cancer relative to the state average. Using community-based participatory research methods, 40 participants completed surveys and collected a total of 354 water, soil, home-grown foods, and dust samples from their homes, which we compared to state, federal, and international contamination standards for arsenic, cadmium, and lead. All soil samples exceeded U.S. EPA and California EPA soil standards for arsenic. When comparing other media to state, federal and international standards for arsenic, cadmium, and lead, 15 additional exceedances for indoor/outdoor dust, drinking water, and/or vegetable were documented. A probabilistic risk assessment was conducted to determine an adult female's exposure to arsenic, cadmium, and lead and estimated risk. Arsenic exposure, due largely to water (63.5 %) and homegrown food (33.3 %), presents carcinogenic risks in excess of the EPA recommended upper limit for contaminated sites (1 × 10−4) in 12.5 % of scenarios, and exceeds a risk level of 1 × 10−6 in 98.0 % of cases. Cadmium exposure results mainly from homegrown food consumption (83.7 %), and lead exposure results from a broader range of sources. This research indicates that rural areas in Gold Country face environmental exposures different than in urban areas. Exposure to arsenic in the female population of Gold Country may be driven by consumption of home-grown foods and water, and exposure to cadmium is driven by home-grown food intake. Since mining sites are of concern internationally, this risk assessment process and associated findings are significant and can be used to inform and tailor public health interventions. The weight of the evidence suggests that the arsenic exposure identified in this study could contribute to increases in the cancer rate among those living in Gold Country, California.
AB - The “Gold Country” region of California is impacted by legacy and active gold mines. Concomitantly, Gold Country has an increased rate of female breast cancer relative to the state average. Using community-based participatory research methods, 40 participants completed surveys and collected a total of 354 water, soil, home-grown foods, and dust samples from their homes, which we compared to state, federal, and international contamination standards for arsenic, cadmium, and lead. All soil samples exceeded U.S. EPA and California EPA soil standards for arsenic. When comparing other media to state, federal and international standards for arsenic, cadmium, and lead, 15 additional exceedances for indoor/outdoor dust, drinking water, and/or vegetable were documented. A probabilistic risk assessment was conducted to determine an adult female's exposure to arsenic, cadmium, and lead and estimated risk. Arsenic exposure, due largely to water (63.5 %) and homegrown food (33.3 %), presents carcinogenic risks in excess of the EPA recommended upper limit for contaminated sites (1 × 10−4) in 12.5 % of scenarios, and exceeds a risk level of 1 × 10−6 in 98.0 % of cases. Cadmium exposure results mainly from homegrown food consumption (83.7 %), and lead exposure results from a broader range of sources. This research indicates that rural areas in Gold Country face environmental exposures different than in urban areas. Exposure to arsenic in the female population of Gold Country may be driven by consumption of home-grown foods and water, and exposure to cadmium is driven by home-grown food intake. Since mining sites are of concern internationally, this risk assessment process and associated findings are significant and can be used to inform and tailor public health interventions. The weight of the evidence suggests that the arsenic exposure identified in this study could contribute to increases in the cancer rate among those living in Gold Country, California.
KW - Arsenic
KW - Breast cancer, exposure assessment
KW - Cadmium
KW - Dust
KW - Homegrown foods
KW - Incidental soil ingestion
KW - Lead
KW - Mining waste
KW - Risk assessment
KW - Risk characterization
KW - Water
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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162228
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162228
M3 - Article
C2 - 36791848
AN - SCOPUS:85148326712
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 872
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 162228
ER -