Fate coefficients for the toxicity assessment of air pollutants

The inclusion of fate and exposure is a central issue in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). According to the framework developed by the Society of Environmental Toxicity and Chemistry (SETAC), fate and exposure route are included through a fate coefficient which makes the link between an emission and the related increase in concentration. In the Critical surface-time 95 methodology, fate factors of air pollutants are determined empirically at a world level as the ratio of measured concentration to the total estimated emission flow. Based on a detailed study performed for seventeen pollutants, a correlation is developed to predict fate factors from the residence time. Variation of a factor 10000 arc observed for the fate coefficient. Empirical fate factors are compared to modelled fate factors and are found to have a similar order of magnitud

From toxic releases to damages on human health:a method for life cycle impact assessment, with a case study on domestic rainwater use

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool developed to evaluate the environmental impact of a product or a system. After a decade of research in the LCA field, significant progress has been achieved but methodologies for the assessment of toxicological impacts on human health are still in the development phase. This dissertation contributes to the research required in this field. More specifically, its main objective is to develop a Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) procedure for human health respecting the guidance developed under the umbrella of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). This means that we aim to implement an original procedure to quantify the potential carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic effects of toxic releases on human health (chapters 2 and 3), and to develop a new method describing the fate of atmospheric releases and the resulting exposure on humans (chapter 4). A framework summarized in figure 5.1 is also proposed to combine the effect assessment with the fate and exposure assessment, in order to derive a so-called human damage factor (chapter 5). A set of heavy metals (cadmium, chromium(VI), chromium(III), copper, methylmercury, beryllium, lead and inorganic arsenic) and of criteria air pollutants (CO, SO2, NOx and fine particles) is chosen for a full application of the procedure developed in this dissertation. The use of this procedure to the Cycleaupe case study is also part of the objectives of this research. This study aims to determine whether systems using rainwater or reducing water consumption are "friendlier" from an environmental perspective than conventional toilet flushing (chapter 6). Figure 5.1. Overview of the framework proposed in this thesis for assessing the damage induced on human health by a toxic released into air. In chapters 2 and 3, a new paradigm based on the effect dose ED10h is derived from the Risk Assessment concept of benchmark dose. It is proposed and explored for the first time in LCIA. The ED10h is defined as the best estimate of the dose which induces a 10% added risk over background for humans. Carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks towards humans are characterized by drawing a straight line from the ED10h down to the origin of the dose-response function. The slope of this straight line is called the slope factor and is denoted βED10. The linear dose-response function without threshold, which is assumed in this ED10-approach, is discussed. The ED10h is calculated for chemicals with bioassay data available in the Integrated Risk Information Service (IRIS) database provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). New correlations between the ED10h and the more widely available tumor dose TD50a (for carcinogenic effects) and the No Observable Adverse Effect Level NOAEL (for noncarcinogenic effects) are determined. They are applied to quantify the slope factor of more than 900 chemicals. A weighting of the different health outcomes associated with chemicals is proposed, based upon the Disability Adjusted Life Years per affected person (DALYp) concept. For carcinogenic endpoints, the DALYp is calculated for different types of tumors, using data reported in the literature. This shows that all cancers have more or less the same severity and an average DALYp of 11.1 years of life lost per affected person is derived. For noncarcinogenic effects, a simplified classification of the adverse effects into three categories is chosen and a DALYp of 11.1, 1.1 and 0.11 years of life lost per affected person is respectively assigned to each of the three categories. Finally, the slope factor βED10 and the DALYp for each substance are combined together in an original way to derive its effect factor. This effect factor is expressed in years of life lost per absorbed mass. Appendix 1.1 summarizes the effect factors calculated for more than 900 toxic releases. Effect factors for carcinogenic outcomes range from 1.3·10-9 for cinnamyl anthranilate up to 3.4·10-1 [yr lost / mg absorbed] for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. Effect factors for noncarcinogenic endpoints range from 4.2·10-12 for 1-Chloro-1,1-difluoroethane to 1.4·10-3 [yr lost / mg absorbed] for beryllium. In chapter 4, a semi-empirical approach is developed to evaluate the fate and exposure for atmospheric releases of metals, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particles. For that purpose, we apply for the first time in LCA the concept of exposure efficiency, which is defined as the ratio between the dose absorbed by the population and the emission inducing that absorption. Three types of exposure efficiency are defined for a world release into air of a given compound. A specific exposure efficiency is directly based on the rural and urban concentrations inhaled by humans. A continental exposure efficiency is defined by considering an uniform world continental concentration over urban and rural inhabited regions (marine and desert regions are excluded). A global exposure efficiency issimilarly defined from the global world concentration of a substance. Exposure efficiencies are calculated for fine particles, CO, NOx and SO2. The specific exposure efficiency ranges from 3.9·10-6 to 2.4·10-5 [mg absorbed / mg emitted], demonstrating that only a very small fraction of an air release is inhaled by humans. The exposure efficiency for metals after inhalation is assumed to be equal to the exposure efficiency for fine particles, since airborne metals are attached to particulate matter. If atmospheric deposition on an agricultural soil occurs, humans can be exposed through a transfer into food products. A first evaluation of this transfer indicates that it can increase the exposure efficiency of metals released into air by a factor 5 up to 70. Specific exposure efficiencies are selected in this thesis to describe the fate and exposure of atmospheric releases. We show for the first time that specific exposure efficiencies are higher by a factor 3 than continental exposure efficiencies, indicating that the use of one-box continental models tend to underestimate the exposure efficiency that can be expected in the real world. This is due to the fact that higher emissions occur in highly populated regions. As a first approximation, the factor 3 could be used as a corrective factor to derive the specific exposure efficiency from the exposure efficiency predicted by one-box continental models. In chapter 5, exposure efficiencies presented in chapter 4 and effect factors presented in chapters 2 and 3 are multiplied to derive the so-called Human Damage Factors (HDF). The damage factors are expressed in years of life lost per emitted mass. Using that factor, the emission of a substance can be converted into its potential damage induced on humans. The damage factors are calculated for NOx, SO2, CO and fine particles, as well as for the selected set of metals released into air or into agricultural soils (see appendix 1.2 for the summarized results). When the transfer into food products is not accounted for, the damage factors for the studied metals range from 1.7·10-11 for chromium(VI) up to 1.3·10-8 [yr lost / mg emitted] for beryllium. Lead has the highest damage factor (1.9·10-8 [yr lost / mg emitted]) if transfer into food products is considered. Damage factors ranging from 2.7·10-10 to 6.6·10-10 [yr lost / mg emitted] are found for NOx, SO2 and fine particles, while carbon monoxide is characterized by a damage factor 103-folds lower. Per emitted mass, metals inhaled by humans induce damages of the same order of magnitude than NOx, SO2 and fine particles; when atmospheric deposition on agricultural soils and its subsequent transfer into food are accounted for, metals present higher damage factors. An indirect validation of the damage factors is presented for SO2, NOx, CO, fine particles and some metals, by applying their damage factors to their total emissions over Switzerland and Europe. The evaluated damages are plausible and in accordance with results reported in other studies. In chapter 6, a Life Cycle Analysis is performed to compare five scenarios for toilets flushing. This LCA is the first one carried out on the whole water cycle, including both thesimilarly defined from the global world concentration of a substance. Exposure efficiencies are calculated for fine particles, CO, NOx and SO2. The specific exposure efficiency ranges from 3.9·10-6 to 2.4·10-5 [mg absorbed / mg emitted], demonstrating that only a very small fraction of an air release is inhaled by humans. The exposure efficiency for metals after inhalation is assumed to be equal to the exposure efficiency for fine particles, since airborne metals are attached to particulate matter. If atmospheric deposition on an agricultural soil occurs, humans can be exposed through a transfer into food products. A first evaluation of this transfer indicates that it can increase the exposure efficiency of metals released into air by a factor 5 up to 70. Specific exposure efficiencies are selected in this thesis to describe the fate and exposure of atmospheric releases. We show for the first time that specific exposure efficiencies are higher by a factor 3 than continental exposure efficiencies, indicating that the use of one-box continental models tend to underestimate the exposure efficiency that can be expected in the real world. This is due to the fact that higher emissions occur in highly populated regions. As a first approximation, the factor 3 could be used as a corrective factor to derive the specific exposure efficiency from the exposure efficiency predicted by one-box continental models. In chapter 5, exposure efficiencies presented in chapter 4 and effect factors presented in chapters 2 and 3 are multiplied to derive the so-called Human Damage Factors (HDF). The damage factors are expressed in years of life lost per emitted mass. Using that factor, the emission of a substance can be converted into its potential damage induced on humans. The damage factors are calculated for NOx, SO2, CO and fine particles, as well as for the selected set of metals released into air or into agricultural soils (see appendix 1.2 for the summarized results). When the transfer into food products is not accounted for, the damage factors for the studied metals range from 1.7·10-11 for chromium(VI) up to 1.3·10-8 [yr lost / mg emitted] for beryllium. Lead has the highest damage factor (1.9·10-8 [yr lost / mg emitted]) if transfer into food products is considered. Damage factors ranging from 2.7·10-10 to 6.6·10-10 [yr lost / mg emitted] are found for NOx, SO2 and fine particles, while carbon monoxide is characterized by a damage factor 103-folds lower. Per emitted mass, metals inhaled by humans induce damages of the same order of magnitude than NOx, SO2 and fine particles; when atmospheric deposition on agricultural soils and its subsequent transfer into food are accounted for, metals present higher damage factors. An indirect validation of the damage factors is presented for SO2, NOx, CO, fine particles and some metals, by applying their damage factors to their total emissions over Switzerland and Europe. The evaluated damages are plausible and in accordance with results reported in other studies. In chapter 6, a Life Cycle Analysis is performed to compare five scenarios for toilets flushing. This LCA is the first one carried out on the whole water cycle, including both the water supply and the wastewater treatment. The drinking water supply system, the rainwater recuperation system and the wastewater treatment system are included in the system boundaries. Results demonstrate that economic toilets (3.5 [l/flushing]) lead to a significant reduction of the energy requirements compared to conventional toilets (9 [l/flushing]). A conventional water supply and a rainwater recuperation with a storage tank of 10 m3 are characterized by similar energy consumption. A rainwater storage tank of 20 m3, designed to be completely independent of the conventional water supply system, is energetically disadvantageous. Calorific losses, linked to the temperature increase of flushing water within the house, have a significant contribution to the energy requirement. The advantage of economic toilets is confirmed when looking at the inventory emissions. An initial LCIA was performed using the critical surface-time CST95 method of Jolliet and Crettaz [1997]. It showed that the conventional scenario using economic toilets (CONVeco) is the most advantageous for all impact classes. When applying the human damage factors developed in this thesis (see chapter 5), the conventional scenario (CONVeco) is still characterized by lower impacts on humans than the recuperation scenario (REC10eco). However, the substances having the major effect on human health differ from those found with the CST95 method; reasons for that change are discussed

Enfants placés à l'Institut Marini de Montet (FR): Discriminations, maltraitances et abus sexuels

Cette recherche historique indépendante, mandatée par Mgr Morerod, évêque de Lausanne, Genève et Fribourg, a enquêté sur les abus sexuels et maltraitances survenues dans l'Institut Marini, un pensionnat pour garçons, entre 1929 et 1955. Elle conclut que des abus graves et répétés s'y sont produits et que le souci principal des responsables a été de les dissimuler

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment is a pivotal guide to identifying environmental problems and reducing related impacts for companies and organizations in need of life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA, a unique sustainability tool, provides a framework that addresses a growing demand for practical technological solutions. Detailing each phase of the LCA methodology, this textbook covers the historical development of LCA, presents the general principles and characteristics of LCA, and outlines the corresponding standards for good practice determined by the International Organization for Standardization. It also explains how to identify the critical aspects of an LCA, provides detailed examples of LCA analysis and applications, and includes illustrated problems and solutions with concrete examples from water management, electronics, packaging, automotive, and other industries. In addition, readers will learn how to: Use consistent criteria to realize and evaluate an LCA independently of individual interests Understand the LCA methodology and become familiar with existing databases and methods based on the latest results of international research Analyze and critique a completed LCA Apply LCA methodology to simple case studies Geared toward graduate and undergraduate students studying environmental science and industrial ecology, as well as practicing environmental engineers, and sustainability professionals who want to teach themselves LCA good practices, Environmental Life Cycle Assessment demonstrates how to conduct environmental assessments for products throughout their life cycles. It presents existing methods and recent developments in the growing field of LCA and systematically covers goal and system definition, life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment, and interpretation

First steps toward harmonized human biomonitoring in Europe : demonstration project to perform human biomonitoring on a European scale

'Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives'Background: For Europe as a whole, data on internal exposure to environmental chemicals do not yet exist. Characterization of the internal individual chemical environment is expected to enhance understanding of the environmental threats to health. Objectives: We developed and applied a harmonized protocol to collect comparable human biomonitoring data all over Europe. Methods: In 17 European countries, we measured mercury in hair and cotinine, phthalate metabolites, and cadmium in urine of 1,844 children (5–11 years of age) and their mothers. Specimens were collected over a 5-month period in 2011–2012. We obtained information on personal characteristics, environment, and lifestyle. We used the resulting database to compare concentrations of exposure biomarkers within Europe, to identify determinants of exposure, and to compare exposure biomarkers with healthbased guidelines. Results: Biomarker concentrations showed a wide variability in the European population. However, levels in children and mothers were highly correlated. Most biomarker concentrations were below the health-based guidance values. Conclusions: We have taken the first steps to assess personal chemical exposures in Europe as a whole. Key success factors were the harmonized protocol development, intensive training and capacity building for field work, chemical analysis and communication, as well as stringent quality control programs for chemical and data analysis. Our project demonstrates the feasibility of a Europe-wide human biomonitoring framework to support the decision-making process of environmental measures to protect public health.The research leading to these results received funding for the COPHES project (COnsortium to Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007–2013] under grant agreement 244237. DEMOCOPHES (DEMOnstration of a study to COordinate and Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) was co-funded (50%:50%) by the European Commission LIFE+ Programme (LIFE09/ENV/BE/000410) and the partners. For information on both projects as well as on the national co-funding institutions, see http://www.eu-hbm.info/. The sponsors had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the report

Economic benefits of methylmercury exposure control in Europe : monetary value of neurotoxicity prevention

© 2013 Bellanger et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Due to global mercury pollution and the adverse health effects of prenatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg), an assessment of the economic benefits of prevented developmental neurotoxicity is necessary for any cost-benefit analysis. Methods: Distributions of hair-Hg concentrations among women of reproductive age were obtained from the DEMOCOPHES project (1,875 subjects in 17 countries) and literature data (6,820 subjects from 8 countries). The exposures were assumed to comply with log-normal distributions. Neurotoxicity effects were estimated from a linear dose-response function with a slope of 0.465 Intelligence Quotient (IQ) point reduction per μg/g increase in the maternal hair-Hg concentration during pregnancy, assuming no deficits below a hair-Hg limit of 0.58 μg/g thought to be safe. A logarithmic IQ response was used in sensitivity analyses. The estimated IQ benefit cost was based on lifetime income, adjusted for purchasing power parity. Results: The hair-mercury concentrations were the highest in Southern Europe and lowest in Eastern Europe. The results suggest that, within the EU, more than 1.8 million children are born every year with MeHg exposures above the limit of 0.58 μg/g, and about 200,000 births exceed a higher limit of 2.5 μg/g proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The total annual benefits of exposure prevention within the EU were estimated at more than 600,000 IQ points per year, corresponding to a total economic benefit between €8,000 million and €9,000 million per year. About four-fold higher values were obtained when using the logarithmic response function, while adjustment for productivity resulted in slightly lower total benefits. These calculations do not include the less tangible advantages of protecting brain development against neurotoxicity or any other adverse effects. Conclusions: These estimates document that efforts to combat mercury pollution and to reduce MeHg exposures will have very substantial economic benefits in Europe, mainly in southern countries. Some data may not be entirely representative, some countries were not covered, and anticipated changes in mercury pollution all suggest a need for extended biomonitoring of human MeHg exposure.Exposure data were contributed from the DEMOCOPHES project (LIFE09 ENV/BE/000410) carried out thanks to joint financing of 50% from the European Commission programme LIFE + along with 50% from each participating country (see the national implementation websites accessible via http://www.eu-hbm.info/democophes/project-partners). Special thanks go to the national implementation teams. The COPHES project that provided the operational and scientific framework was funded by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme - DG Research (Grant Agreement Number 244237). Additional exposure data were supported by the PHIME project (FOOD-CT-2006-016253) and ArcRisk (GA 226534). We are grateful to Yue Gao and colleagues for sharing Flanders exposure data from the Flemish Center of Expertise on Environment and Health, financed and steered by the Ministry of the Flemish Community. National exposure data from the 2006–2007 French national survey on nutrition and health (Etude Nationale Nutrition Santé) were made available by Nadine Fréry, French Institute for Public Health Surveillance. Data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (a validation sample) were kindly provided by Anne Lise Brantsæter, National Institute of Public Health, Oslo. The UK mercury data were obtained from the ALSPAC pregnancy blood analyses carried out at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with funding from NOAA (the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration). The studies in the Faroe Islands were supported by the US National Institutes of Health (ES009797 and ES012199). The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies

Exposure determinants of cadmium in European mothers and their children

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CCBY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).The metal cadmium (Cd) is a widespread environmental pollutant with documented adverse effects on the kidneys and bones from long-term environmental exposure, but with insufficiently elucidated public health consequences such as risk of cardiovascular disease, hormone-related cancer in adults and developmental effects in children. This study is the first pan-European human biomonitoring project that succeeded in performing harmonized measurements of Cd in urine in a comparable way in mother–child couples from 16 European countries. The aim of the study was to evaluate the overall Cd exposure and significant determinants of Cd exposure. A study population of 1632 women (24–52 years of age), and 1689 children (5–12 years of age), from 32 rural and urban areas, was examined within a core period of 6 months in 2011–2012. Women were stratified as smokers and non-smokers. As expected, smoking mothers had higher geometric mean (gm) urinary cadmium (UCd; 0.24 µg/g crea; n=360) than non-smoking mothers (gm 0.18 µg/g crea; n=1272; p<0.0001), and children had lower UCd (gm 0.065 µg/g crea; n=1689) than their mothers at the country level. Non-smoking women exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at home had 14% (95% CI 1–28%) higher UCd than those who were not exposed to ETS at home (p=0.04). No influence of ETS at home or other places on UCd levels was detected in children. Smoking women with primary education as the highest educational level of the household had 48% (95% CI 18–86%) higher UCd than those with tertiary education (p=0.0008). The same observation was seen in non-smoking women and in children; however they were not statistically significant. In children, living in a rural area was associated with 7% (95% CI 1–13%) higher UCd (p=0.03) compared to living in an urban area. Children, 9–12 years had 7% (95% CI 1–13%) higher UCd (p=0.04) than children 5–8 years. About 1% of the mothers, and 0.06% of the children, exceeded the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) appointed by EFSA, corresponding to 1.0 µg Cd/g crea in urine. Poland had the highest UCd in comparison between the 16 countries, while Denmark had the lowest. Whether the differences between countries are related to differences in the degree of environmental Cd contamination or to differences in lifestyle, socioeconomic status or dietary patterns is not clear.Financially supported by the 7th EU framework programe(DGResearch – No. 244237-COPHES),LIFE+ 2009(DG Environment – LIFE09ENV/BE000410-DEMOCOPHES),with addi- tional co-funding from DEMOCOPHES partners