United States
Environmental Protection
Agency

National Exposure

Research Laboratory

Research Triangle Park NC 27711

Research and Development

EPA/600/SR-97/029 July 1997

Project Summary

Field Methods Evaluation for
Estimating Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbon Exposure:
Children in Low-Income
Families that Include Smokers

Jane C. Chuang, Patrick J. Callahan, and Christopher Lyu

The objective of this study is to evalu-
ate field methods for measuring the
exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydro-
carbon (PAH) of children in low-income
families who live in homes occupied
by smokers. Under this Work Assign-
ment, measurements of total exposure
to PAH were planned for four house-
holds. The study households were se-
lected based on the following criteria:
low income, a child of preschool age
who is toilet trained and who spends
most of his/her time at home, and at
least one adult smoker. Two house-
holds were located in downtown
Durham, NC, near heavy traffic, and
two were located in rural areas at
Zebulon and Holly Springs, NC, away
from heavy traffic. The field sampling
was conducted during August 1995.
Prior to the field study, study proto-
cols, questionnaires, informed consent
forms, and a Quality Systems and
Implementation Plan (QSIP) were pre-
pared. These documents were submit-
ted to the Human Subjects Committees
of Battelle, Survey Research Associ-
ates/Battelle, and U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) for approv-
als.

Multimedia samples collected were
indoor and outdoor air, house and
entryway dust, pathway soil, food, and
urine. These samples were prepared
for PAH and hydroxy-PAH analyses by
the methods described in the QSIP. In-
door levels of B2 PAH (probable hu-
man carcinogens) ranged from 3.2 to
53 ng/m3. Outdoor B2 PAH levels
ranged from 0.60 to 3.4 ng/m3. In gen-

eral, the outdoor PAH levels were lower
than the indoor PAH levels. The total
house dust loadings ranged from 2.98
to 691 g/m2. Extremely high dust load-
ing (691 g/m2) was observed In one
household. The fine dust fraction
(<150|im) of these households repre-
sents 36.7% to 93.8% of the correspond-
ing total dust loadings. Levels of B2
PAH ranged from 0.83 to 3.8 ppm in
house dust, from 0.19 to 1.5 ppm in
entryway dust, and from 0.029 to
1.8 ppm in pathway soil. The sum of
B2 PAH concentrations found in 24-hr
composite food samples were from 0.24
to 0.50 ppb for adults and from 0.16 to
0.91 ppb for children. Urinary PAH me-
tabolites, i.e., hydroxy-PAH, ranged
from <0.017 to 0.94 |*g/L for adults and
from <0.017 to 0.26 jag/L for children.

This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's National Exposure Research
Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, NC,
to announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).

Introduction

Many PAHs present in air, dust, soil,
and food are known carcinogens or mu-
tagens, and adverse health effects have
been linked to exposure to PAH. Children
can be exposed to PAH by inhaling con-
taminated air, by ingesting tainted food, or
by nondietary ingestion or dermal absorp-
tion from contaminated dust or soil. The
exposure resulting from ingestion of dust
or soil is believed to be more important for

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young children because of their typical
play activities.

Higher ambient PAH concentrations
have been observed in air in inner city
areas in comparison to rural areas, be-
cause higher mobile source emissions and
local stationary source emissions exist in
the inner city. For the same reasons,
higher PAH concentrations have been
found in the soil from inner city areas in
comparison with remote rural areas, and
in inner city road dust in areas with heavy
traffic. Two significant indoor PAH con-
tamination sources are environmental to-
bacco smoke and unvented heating
appliances such as kerosene or gas space
heaters.

Children from inner city and rural areas
may experience different PAH exposures
because of the differences in the nature
and level of PAH contamination in these
areas. Socioeconomic status and other
factors, such as location (inner city versus
rural areas), are usually adjusted for or
are not considered in field studies to as-
sess human exposure to environmental
pollutants. These adjustments or omissions
result in a lack of data on the relationship
between these factors, and the potential
for exposure of this disadvantaged group
is usually ignored.

Under EPA Cooperative Agreement
CR822073, a three-year study is being
conducted to develop and evaluate field
methods to estimate children's exposure
to PAH. The preliminary results from the
first phase of the cooperative study sug-
gest that the dietary pathway is a signifi-
cant route of exposure for children. That
study includes children from nine low-in-
come homes located in urban and rural
areas in Durham, Zebulon, and Holly
Springs, NC, and which are inhabited by
nonsmokers.

It is desirable to evaluate the PAH total
exposure field methodology for children in
smokers' homes. Homes occupied by
young children and smokers and having
low household incomes were already iden-
tified under the Cooperative Agreement.
In the present work assignment, the aim
was to evaluate the methods, to obtain
range-finding estimates of the PAH expo-
sure of such children, and to estimate the
relative importance of the inhalation, der-
mal, and dietary pathways for this expo-
sure. This study was conducted with
survey instruments that were previously
developed under the Cooperative Agree-
ment.

Measurements of total exposure to PAH
were made for four households. The study

households were selected on the basis of
the following criteria: low income, a child
of preschool age who is toilet trained and
who spends most of his/her time at home,
and at least one adult smoker. Two house-
holds selected for this study were located
in downtown Durham, NC. They are within
one mile of several major highways and
streets, including Interstate Highway 85,
U.S. Business 85, and Durham Freeway
(Highway 147). The other two households
were located in rural areas, one house-
hold about 25 mi northeast of Raleigh and
one household about 20 mi southeast of
Raleigh. The field sampling activities of
this study were performed in conjunction
with the Cooperative Agreement study. A
total of 13 households (4 from this study
and 9 from the Cooperative Agreement
study) was sampled in August 1995. Mul-
timedia samples were collected to deter-
mine PAH and hydroxy-PAH.

Results and Conclusions

In the research conducted under
CR822073, we demonstrated an effective
approach for conducting a screening sur-
vey for selection of households from low-
income families. This approach included
posting study flyers at county Special
Supplement Food Program for Women,
Infants and Children offices, food stamp
offices, social services department, and
health department, and asking eligible and
interested participants to call in. We also
asked interested participants to refer their
friends or relatives to us. All four study
households and four backup households
were recruited similarly.

In general the study consent forms, pre-
monitoring questionnaires, post-monitoring
questionnaires, and Participant Informa-
tion Booklets, which were developed un-
der CR822073 and used here, were easy
for adult subjects to understand. Adult sub-
jects had no difficulties recording child ac-
tivity diaries, adult/child food diaries, and
collecting adult/child food samples. How-
ever, we found that child urine collection
was difficult for three of the four adult
subjects. During the post-monitoring inter-
view, these adult subjects reported that it
was difficult to collect child urine samples
through the urine collectors (bonnets) be-
cause their children were not used to the
urine collectors. In one household, the
adult subject was unable to collect two
out of four child urine grab samples. Par-
ticipants' feedback about the study was
documented during the post-monitoring
interview. They responded that overall
study activities did not burden or bother

them. Three out of four participants ex-
pressed their willingness to participate
again in a similar, future study even if the
incentive payment were reduced from $75
to $50.

The smoking habits of three adult sub-
jects during the field monitoring period
were in agreement with their typical smok-
ing behaviors recorded during the screen-
ing survey. The daily number of cigarettes
smoked, as estimated by these three sub-
jects in the screening survey, were similar
to the number of cigarettes smoked dur-
ing the field monitoring period. For the
remaining adult subject, the number of
cigarettes smoked during sampling was
nearly four times lower than that estimated
in the screening survey. It is possible that
subjects changed their behavior due to
the field monitoring activities, even though
we asked them not to change their normal
routines.

We demonstrated that the 2-day-3-
house sampling protocol developed under
the Cooperative Agreement could be suc-
cessfully applied to both field studies. The
field activities were successfully completed
on time and within budget. These house-
hold screening and field sampling proto-
cols could be modified easily for a
large-scale exposure field study.

For the four study homes, the PAH con-
centrations in indoor air were higher than
those in the corresponding outdoor air.
Higher outdoor PAH concentrations were
observed in the inner city as compared to
rural areas. The concentrations of target
PAH ranged from 0.08 to 3,600 ng/m3 in
indoor air and from 0.03 to 1,700 ng/m3 in
outdoor air. The house dust loadings in
the inner city households were higher than
those in the rural area households. The
B2 PAH (probable human carcinogens)
accounted for roughly half of all target
PAH in all but one house dust, entryway
soil, and pathway soil sample. The con-
centrations of target PAH in house dust,
entryway dust, and soil ranged from 0.001
to 1.4 ppm. The concentrations of most
target PAH found in 24-hr food composite
samples were usually less than 1 ppb.
The hydroxy-PAH concentrations ranged
from <0.017 |ig/mL to 0.94 ^g/mL in the
urine samples.

¦In general, total PAH exposure to both
adults and children through the inhalation
pathway was greater than through the di-
etary and nondietary ingestion pathways.
However, the dietary and nondietary in-
gestion pathways were more important
than the inhalation pathway for exposure
of adults and children to nonvolatile PAH
including B2 PAH.

2

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Jane C. Chuang and Patrick J. Callahan are with Battelle, Columbus, OH 43201-
2693. Christopher Lyu is with Survey Research Associates, Durham, NC
27713.

Nancy K. Wilson is the EPA Project Officer (see below).

The complete report, entitled "Field Methods Evaluation for Estimating Polycyclic
Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure: Children in Low-Income Families that Include
Smokers," (Order No. PB97-144869; Cost: $31.00, subject to change) will be
available only from

National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650

The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at

National Exposure Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711

United States

Environmental Protection Agency

Center for Environmental Research Information

Cincinnati, OH 45268

BULK RATE
POSTAGE & FEES PAID
EPA

PERMIT No. G-35

Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
$300

EPA/600/SR-97/029

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