• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.5 s.92
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• pp.440-445
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• 2006

Acetaminophen (paracetamol), generally used as a pain reducing agent, has good analgesic efficacy in toothaches and headaches, but is of little use in inflammatory and visceral pain. This study was performed to analyze the level of acetaminophen in the Kyongahn river and to investigate the ecological risks of target compounds. Sampling sites were Haesil, Soopyo, Wangsan, Kyongahn, Jiwol, Kwangdong, Paldang and they were analyzed in June and August, 2005. Acute toxicity of acetaminophen wwas evaluated for Daphnia magna. From the ecotoxicological results, environmental risk assessments were performed for acetaminophen residues in Kyongahn river to predict their potential adverse effect. Acetaminophen was detected at Kyonahn river, $0.439{\mu}g/l$). The toxic concentration of acetaminophen calculated with 48-h $LC_{50}$ values as 16.9 mg/l. These results indicated that acetaminophen had no significant ecotoxicological impact on short-term acute exposure.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.416-423
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• 2017

The subject samples include 150 and 170 samples collected from intake holes in the former and latter half of 2015, respectively. They were analyzed with ICP-MS. The average concentration of detected barium was $10.54{\mu}g/L$ ($0.23{\sim}168.22{\mu}g/L$) and $8.21{\mu}g/L$ ($0{\sim}255.65{\mu}g/L$) for the former and latter halves of 2015, respectively. The concentration distribution was the highest for the precambrian era at $19.07{\mu}g/L$ and the lowest Cenozoic era at $4.92{\mu}g/L$. The average value for sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks was $7.84{\mu}g/L$, $20.84{\mu}g/L$, and $9.47{\mu}g/L$, respectively, which indicates that it was the highest for metamorphic rocks. The study also analyzed correlations between barium and other minerals and found that magnesium recorded 0.44 and 0.71 for the former and latter half of 2015, respectively. As for barium concentration according to depth, it was relatively low in shallow groundwater (under 200 m) with its average concentration at $14.33{\mu}g/L$ and $14.71{\mu}g/L$ for the former and latter half of 2015, respectively. It was $8.53{\mu}g/L$ and $4.04{\mu}g/L$ in deep groundwater (over 200 m) for the two periods, respectively, The risk assessment results show that its average risk was HQ 0.00139 and HQ 0.00163 for the former and latter half of 2015, respectively, being considerably lower than "1", which suggests that barium poses few possibilities of consumption risk.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.143-147
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• 2010

Chronic exposure to Arsenic (As) causes significant human health effects including various cancers. Total As concentrations from 300 polished rice samples cultivated near the mining areas in Korea were analyzed to estimate a probabilistic assessment of human health risk from As-contaminated rice. The mean of total As concentrations in rice was 0.09 mg/kg and lognormal distribution model was set for total As concentrations. Human health risk for As in rice was estimated using gender-specific rice consumption data and average daily dose (ADD). While cancer risk (CR) and hazard quotient (HQ) were calculated using oral cancer slope factor (OCSF) and Reference dose (RfD) suggested by the U.S. EPA. Mean of CR posed by total As was 2.16 (for male) and 1.83 (for female) per 10,000. The HQ for general population from rice cultivated near the mining areas in Korea was below 1 as the $50^{th}$ percentile of general population. However, less than 10% of general population consuming rice cultivated near the mining areas would exceed 1.0. This result is similar with those from each gender-specific group.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 2009

Heavy metal pollution may be one of the most serious challenges confront crop production and human health. Therefore, the selection of heavy metal tolerance cultivars which adapted to the contaminated fields will introduced a suitable solution for management this critical environmental risk. The objectives of this research is to assess human health risk using geochemical analyses and exposure assessment of heavy metals in rice cultivars. Risk for inhabitants in the closed mine area was comparatively assessed for As, Cd, Cu and Pb in 10 rice varieties as a major exposure pathway. The average daily dose (ADD) of each heavy metal was estimated by analyzing the exposure pathways to rice and soil. For the non-carcinogenic risk characterization, Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Hazard Index (HI) were calculated using toxicity indices provided by US-EPA IRIS. The different rice varieties revealed a wide range of HI values from 23.6 to 34.3, indicating that all rice varieties have a high potential toxic risk. The DA rice variety showed the lowest HI value while the TB rice variety the highest. The probabilities of cancer risk for As via rice consumption were varied with rice varieties ranging from 2.0E-03 to 3.5E-03 which exceeded the regulatory acceptable risk of 1 in 10,000 set by US-EPA. The DA rice variety also showed the lowest value while the TB rice variety gave the highest value. Our results indicate that risk assessment can be contribute to screen the pollution safe rice cultivars in paddy fields affected by the mining activity.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2020

Objectives: This study intends to evaluate the ecological risk of lead (Pb), arsenic (As), and their compounds according to the 2010 action plan on inventory and management for national priority chemicals and provide calculations of risks to the environment. By doing so, we aim to inform risk management measures for the target chemicals. Methods: We conducted species sensitivity distribution (SSD) analysis using the collected ecotoxicity data and obtained predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) for the in-water environment using a hazardous concentration of 5% (HC5) protective of most species (95%) in the environment. Based on the calculated PNECs for aquatic organisms, PNEC values for soil and sediment were calculated using the partition coefficient. We also calculated predicted exposure concentration (PEC) from nation-wide environmental monitoring data and then the hazard quotient (HQ) was calculated using PNEC for environmental media. Results: Ecological toxicity data was categorized into five groups and five species for Pb and four groups and four species for As. Based on the HC5 values from SSD analysis, the PNEC value for aquatic organisms was calculated as 0.40 ㎍/L for Pb and 0.13 ㎍/L for As. PNEC values for soil and sediment calculated using a partition coefficient were 77.36 and 350.50 mg/kg for Pb and 24.20 and 112.75 mg/kg for As. The analysis of national environmental monitoring data showed that PEC values in water were 0.284 ㎍/L for Pb and 0.024 ㎍/L for As, while those in soil and sediment were respectively 45.9 and 44 mg/kg for Pb, and 11.40 and 19.80 mg/kg for As. Conclusions: HQs of Pb and As were 0.70 and 0.18 in water, while those in soil and sediment were 0.59 and 0.13 for Pb and 0.47 and 0.18 for As. With HQs <1 of lead and arsenic in the environment, their ecological risk levels are found to be low.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2021

While veterinary antibiotics are used only in a part of the dose administered, the rest are excreted as urine or feces. Residual antibiotics enter the adjacent agricultural environments by spraying manure-based composts on farmlands and lead to secondary pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the technique for post management such as regulatory levels of antibiotics in the agricultural environments. This study was conducted to compare by different matrices the amount of residual antibiotics such as tetracyclines and sulfonamides, which are known to be frequently used in Korea and to practice risk assessment by different antibiotics in soils before and after application of composts. Pre-treatment with modified typical method using buffer and solid phase extraction showed the recovery of composts and soils was more than 70% at ppb level and the limits of detection were 0.13-0.46 and 0.05-0.25 ㎍/kg, respectively. Analysis of manure-based composts revealed concentrations from 5.38 to 196.0 ㎍/kg for tetracyclines, from below the detection of limit (BDL) to 259.0 ㎍/kg for sulfonamides. In case of agricultural soils, residual concentrations of selected veterinary antibiotics were ranged 0.30-53.3 ㎍/kg, BDL-4.16 ㎍/kg respectively and the concentration level of tetracyclines, which had higher soil distribution coefficient (Kd) values, was higher than that of sulfonamides. There was a difference in human risk assessment by different antibiotics in soil before and after application of composts. But, it was indicated that detection values of all of 5 antibiotics were very safe on the basis that Hazard Quotient was safe below 1.