Assessment of water use for estimating exposure to tap water contaminants.

Epidemiological studies examining the association between exposure to tap water contaminants (such as chlorination by-products) and disease outcomes (such as cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes) have been limited by inaccurate exposure assessment. Failure to take into account the variation in beverage and tap water consumption and exposure to volatile contaminants through inhalation and dermal absorption can introduce misclassification in assessing the association between exposure to tap water contaminants and health. To refine exposure assessment of tap water contaminants, we describe in detail the tap water consumption, showering, and bathing habits of pregnant women and their male partners as assessed by a questionnaire and a 3-day water diary. We found good agreement between questionnaire and 3-day water diary values for drinking water intake (Pearson's r = 0.78) and for time spent showering(r = 0.68) and bathing (r = 0.78). Half of the participants consumed tap water on a regular basis with an overall mean +/- 1 standard deviation (SD) of 0. 78 +/- 0.51 l/day. Our results further suggest that full-time employees, compared to women working part-time or less, have more heterogeneous consumption patterns over time. Seventy-nine percent of women and 94% of men took showers for an average of 11.6 +/-4.0 min and 10.4 +/- 4.8 min, respectively. Baths were taken more frequently by women than men (21% vs. 3%) for an average of 22.9 +/-10.1 min and 21.3 +/- 12.4 min, respectively. Thus, these patterns of tap water use should be considered in the design and interpretation of environmental epidemiology studies

‘It’s better than daytime television’: questioning the socio-spatial impacts of massage parlours on residential communities

It has been shown that street sex work is problematic for some communities, but there is less evidence of the effects of brothels. Emerging research also suggests that impact discourses outlined by residential communities and in regulatory policies should be critiqued, because they are often based on minority community voices, and limited tangible evidence is used to masquerade wider moral viewpoints about the place of sex work. Using a study of residents living in close proximity to brothels in Blackpool, this paper argues that impact is socially and spatially fluid. Impact needs to be evaluated in a more nuanced manner, which is considerate of the heterogeneity of (even one type of) sex work, and the community in question. Brothels in Blackpool had a variety of roles in the everyday socio-spatial fabric; thus also questioning the common assumption that sex work only impacts negatively on residential communities

Assessing spatial fluctuations, temporal variability, and measurement error in estimated levels of disinfection by-products in tap water: implications for exposure assessment

Aims: To assess spatial fluctuations, temporal variability, and errors due to sampling and analysis in levels of disinfection by-products in routine monitoring tap water samples and in water samples collected in households within the same distribution system for an exposure assessment study. Methods: Mixed effects models were applied to quantify seasonal effects and the degree to which trihalomethane (THM) levels vary among households or locations relative to variation over time within seasons for any given location. In a separate analysis, the proportion of total variation due to measurement error arising from sampling and analysis was also quantified. Results: THM levels were higher in the summer relative to other seasons. Differences in the relative magnitude of the intra- and inter-household components of variation were observed between the two sets of THM measurements, with a greater proportion of the variation due to differences within seasons for the routine monitoring data and a greater proportion of the variation due to differences across locations for the exposure assessment study data. Such differences likely arose due to differences in the strategies used to select sites for sampling and in the time periods over which the data were collected. With the exception of bromodichloromethane, measurement errors due to sampling and analysis contributed a small proportion of the total variation in THM levels. Conclusions: The utility of routine monitoring data in assigning exposure in epidemiological studies is limited because such data may not represent the magnitude of spatial variability in levels of disinfection byproducts across the distribution system. Measurement error contributes a relatively small proportion to the total variation in THM levels, which suggests that gathering a greater number of samples over time with fewer replicates collected at each sampling location is more efficient and would likely yield improved estimates of household exposure

Occupational cancer in Britain: Exposure assessment methodology

To estimate the current occupational cancer burden due to past exposures in Britain, estimates of the number of exposed workers at different levels are required, as well as risk estimates of cancer due to the exposures. This paper describes the methods and results for estimating the historical exposures. All occupational carcinogens or exposure circumstances classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as definite or probable human carcinogens and potentially to be found in British workplaces over the past 20–40 years were included in this study. Estimates of the number of people exposed by industrial sector were based predominantly on two sources of data, the CARcinogen EXposure (CAREX) database and the UK Labour Force Survey. Where possible, multiple and overlapping exposures were taken into account. Dose–response risk estimates were generally not available in the epidemiological literature for the cancer–exposure pairs in this study, and none of the sources available for obtaining the numbers exposed provided data by different levels of exposure. Industrial sectors were therefore assigned using expert judgement to ‘higher'- and ‘lower'-exposure groups based on the similarity of exposure to the population in the key epidemiological studies from which risk estimates had been selected. Estimates of historical exposure prevalence were obtained for 41 carcinogens or occupational circumstances. These include exposures to chemicals and metals, combustion products, other mixtures or groups of chemicals, mineral and biological dusts, physical agents and work patterns, as well as occupations and industries that have been associated with increased risk of cancer, but for which the causative agents are unknown. There were more than half a million workers exposed to each of six carcinogens (radon, solar radiation, crystalline silica, mineral oils, non-arsenical insecticides and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin); other agents to which a large number of workers are exposed included benzene, diesel engine exhaust and environmental tobacco smoke. The study has highlighted several industrial sectors with large proportions of workers potentially exposed to multiple carcinogens. The relevant available data have been used to generate estimates of the prevalence of past exposure to occupational carcinogens to enable the occupational cancer burden in Britain to be estimated. These data are considered adequate for the present purpose, but new data on the prevalence and intensity of current occupational exposure to carcinogens should be collected to ensure that future policy decisions be based on reliable evidence

Maternal Occupational Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Effects on Gastroschisis among Offspring in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

Background: Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) occurs in many occupational settings. There is evidence in animal models that maternal exposure to PAHs during pregnancy is associated with gastroschisis in offspring; however, to our knowledge, no human studies examining this association have been conducted