• 한국지하수토양환경학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국지하수토양환경학회 2005년도 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOIL & GROUNDWATER ENVIRONMENT
• /
• pp.176-177
• /
• 2005

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제47권5호
• /
• pp.245-252
• /
• 2014

Arsenic is a unique element with distinct physical characteristics and toxicity whose importance in public health is well recognized. The toxicity of arsenic varies across its different forms. While the carcinogenicity of arsenic has been confirmed, the mechanisms behind the diseases occurring after acute or chronic exposure to arsenic are not well understood. Inorganic arsenic has been confirmed as a human carcinogen that can induce skin, lung, and bladder cancer. There are also reports of its significant association to liver, prostate, and bladder cancer. Recent studies have also suggested a relationship with diabetes, neurological effects, cardiac disorders, and reproductive organs, but further studies are required to confirm these associations. The majority of research to date has examined cancer incidence after a high exposure to high concentrations of arsenic. However, numerous studies have reported various health effects caused by chronic exposure to low concentrations of arsenic. An assessment of the health effects to arsenic exposure has never been performed in the South Korean population; thus, objective estimates of exposure levels are needed. Data should be collected on the biological exposure level for the total arsenic concentration, and individual arsenic concentration by species. In South Korea, we believe that biological exposure assessment should be the first step, followed by regular health effect assessments.

• 한국환경보건학회지
• /
• 제43권3호
• /
• pp.167-175
• /
• 2017

Objectives: Children may be more exposed to certain environmental contaminants because they react with greater sensitivity and have different food intakes and breathing rate per unit of body weight compared to adults. The aim of this study was to determine general exposure factors such as skin surface area, period and frequency of exposure, and others among Korean children aged ${\leq}18$ years old. This study was carried out as the first of its kind in Korea. Methods: We developed 23 recommended exposure factors for Korean children aged 0 to 18 years by reclassifying raw data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Statistical Information Service, as well as through investigation by experiments in the absence of related data. Results: Reflecting the activity patterns of about 9,000 children, the daily inhalation rates for long-term exposure ranged from $9.49m^3/day$ for children from birth to <2 years to $14.98m^3/day$ for children aged 16 to <18 years. The research found that Korean children spent an average of 22.21 hours indoors, 0.67 hours outdoors, and 1.12 hours in-transit every day. Young children (${\leq}2$ years old) spent approximately 34 more minutes outdoors on weekends than they did on weekdays. Conclusion: Various physiological variables in the human body reflect characteristics of children that can directly influence risk exposure. Therefore, the identification of general exposure factors based on Korean children is required for appropriate risk assessment.

• 한국환경농학회지
• /
• 제32권4호
• /
• pp.245-251
• /
• 2013

BACKGROUND: The objectives of this study are to investigate the contamination levels of heavy metals in soil, ground water, and agricultural product near the abandoned Boeun and Sanggok mine areas in Korea and to assess the health risk for these local residents exposed to the toxic heavy metals based on analytical data. METHODS AND RESULTS: By the results of human health risk assessment for local residents around Boeun and Sanggok, human exposure to cadmium, copper, arsenic from soil and to lead, cadmium, and arsenic from rice grain were higher in Sanggok, but human exposure to zinc and arsenic from ground water was higher in Boeun. By the results of hazard index (HI) evaluation for arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc, HI values in both areas were higher than 1.0. This result indicated that the toxicity hazard through the continuous exposure to lead, cadmium, arsenic from rice, ground water, and soil would be likely to occur to the residents in the areas. Cancer risk assessment for arsenic, risks from the rice were exposed to one to two out of 10,000 people in Boeun and one of 1,000 people in Sanggok. These results showed that the cancer risks of arsenic in both areas were 10~100 times greater than the acceptable cancer risk range of US EPA ($1{\times}10^{-6}{\sim}1{\times}10^{-5}$). CONCLUSION(S): Therefore, if these two local residents consume continuously with arsenic contaminated soil, ground water, and rice, the adverse health effects (carcinogenic potential) would be more increased.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제20권2호
• /
• pp.102-110
• /
• 2010

Personal exposure relies on characteristics of time activity patterns of the population of concern as human activities impact the timing, location, and level of personal exposure. The information about time spent in microenvironments plays a critical role for personal exposure to air pollutants. It is useful to determine the precise times of the day that the subjects are in certain locations or engaging in specific activities because exposure to some air pollutants can depend on temporal trends. This study investigated time activity pattern for workers of Korean population over 19 years old with 8,778 workers in weekday. The residential indoor times were 12 hours. Time activity was different by gender and the mean times stayed at home in weekday were 12.9 hours in female and 11.42 hours in male, respectively. The major factors on residential indoor time and workplace time were age, monthly income, occupation and industry type, work position, education, and gender. Considering shorter than those in other countries, Korean workers spent less time at home after the working hours. Determinants of time activity pattern need to be taken into account in exposure assessment, epidemiological analyses, exposure simulations, as well as in the development of preventive strategies. Since there are substantial difference of Korean worker activity pattern, this information can be critical for exposure assessment in Korea.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제2권4호
• /
• pp.355-364
• /
• 2011

Objectives: Though sulfur dioxide (SO2) is used widely at workplaces, itseffects on humans are not known. Thresholds are reportedwithout reference to gender or age and occupational exposure limits are basedon effects on lung functioning, although localized effects in the upper airways can be expected. This study's aim is to determine thresholds with respect to age and gender and suggests a new approach to risk assessment using breathing reflexes presumably triggered by trigeminal receptors in the upper airways. Methods: Odor thresholds were determined by the ascending method of limits in groups stratified by age and gender. Subjects rated intensities of different olfactory and trigeminal perceptions at different concentrations of $SO_2$. During the presentation of the concentrations, breathing movements were measured by respiratory inductive plethysmography. Results: Neither age nor gender effects were observed for odor threshold. Only ratings of nasal irritation were influenced bygender. A benchmark dose analysis on relative respiratory depth revealed a 10%-deviation from baseline at about 25.27 mg/$m^3$. Conclusion: The proposed new approach to risk assessment appearsto be sustainable. We discuss whether a 10%-deviation of breathingdepth is relevant.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제47권1호
• /
• pp.27-35
• /
• 2014

Exposure factors based on the Korean population are required for making appropriate risk assessment. It is expected that handbooks for exposure factors will be applied in many fields, as well as by health department risk assessors. The present article describes the development of an exposure factors handbook that specifically focuses on human activities in situations involving the possible risk of exposure to environmental contaminants. We define majour exposure factors that represent behavioral patterns for risk assessment, including time spent on routine activities, in different places, on using transportation, and engaged in activities related to water contact including swimming, bathing and washing. Duration of residence and employment are also defined. National survey data were used to identify recommended levels of exposure factors in terms of time spent on routine activities and period of residence and employment. An online survey was conducted with 2073 subjects who were selected using a stratified random sampling method in order to develop a list of exposure factors for the time spent in different places and in performing water-related activities. We provide the statistical distribution of the variables, and report reference levels of average exposure based on the reliable data in our exposure factors handbook.

• 한국환경보건학회지
• /
• 제40권5호
• /
• pp.355-366
• /
• 2014

Objectives: This study seeks to evaluate the vulnerability assessment of the human health sector for $PM_{10}$, which is reflected in the regional characteristics and related disease mortality rates for $PM_{10}$ in Busan over the period of 2006-2010. Methods: According to the vulnerability concept suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), vulnerability to $PM_{10}$ is comprised of the categories of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The indexes of the exposure and sensitivity categories indicate positive effects, while the adaptive capacity index indicates a negative effect on vulnerability to $PM_{10}$. Variables of each category were standardized by the rescaling method, and each regional relative vulnerability was computed through the vulnerability index calculation formula. Results: The regions with a high exposure index are Jung-Gu (transportation region) and Saha-Gu (industrial region). Major factors determining the exposure index are the $PM_{10}$ concentration, days of $PM_{10}{\geq}50$, ${\mu}g/m^3$, and $PM_{10}$ emissions. The regions that show a high sensitivity index are urban and rural regions; these commonly have a high mortality rate for related disease and vulnerable populations. The regions that have a high adaptive capacity index are Jung-Gu, Gangseo-Gu, and Busanjin-Gu, all of which have a high level of economic/welfare/health care factors. The high-vulnerability synthesis of the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity indexes show that Dong-Gu and Seo-Gu have a risk for $PM_{10}$ potential effects and a low adaptive capacity. Conclusions: This study presents the vulnerability index to $PM_{10}$ through a relative comparison using quantitative evaluation to draw regional priorities. Therefore, it provides basic data to reflect environmental health influences in favor of an adaptive policy limiting damage to human health caused by vulnerability to $PM_{10}$.

• 한국환경보건학회지
• /
• 제36권4호
• /
• pp.294-305
• /
• 2010

This study estimated the health risk of heavy metals in particulate matter $(PM)_{2.5}$ in a Gwangyang industrial complex. The $PM_{2.5}$ containing heavy metal was collected from January to November, 2008 using a denuder air sampler and by IC (Ion Chromatograph). The risk assessment was performed in a four-step process; hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose-response assessment and risk characterization. In the hazard identification process, $Cr^{6+}$, Ni, As, and Pb were categorized as human carcinogens and probable human carcinogens, while Ti, Mn, Se, P, $Cr^{3+}$, Cu, and Zn were not classified as human carcinogens. It was found that the excess cancer risk by Central Tendency Exposure (CTE) of $Cr^{6+}$ and As in $PM_{2.5}$ was > $10^{-6}$, and the total excess cancer risk posed by carcinogen heavy metals in $PM_{2.5}$ was > $10^{-6}$. It was also determined that the total hazard index by CTE of non-carcinogen heavy metals in $PM_{2.5}$ was <1. Taken together, these results indicate a high cancer risk associated whit inhalation of heavy metal-containing$PM_{2.5}$ in industrial areas.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• 제11권3_4호
• /
• pp.75-87
• /
• 1996

There are numerous and evidential findings that TCDD (2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-Pdioxin, or dioxin) is a potential carcinogen and general toxin in rodents. flowever, human risk assessment for dioxin exposure has been a topic of debate, owing in part to the large animal interspecies differences in its toxicity. We review dioxin-related reports indicating its toxicity, toxic effects in animal, and human epidemiologic findings. The intent of this paper does not provide a causal inference about chronic human diseases related to dioxin exposure. This summary would give a valuable clue for a researcher to conduct or design a further dioxin-related study.