Development of Lead Source-specific
Exposure Standards
Based on Aggregate Exposure Assessment: Bayesian Inversion from Biomonitoring
Information to Multipathway Exposure
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Abstract
Exposure of children to lead is of great concern, and
the exposure
standards for different media are important for protecting public
safety. However, these media-specific standards often fail to ensure
the safety of children even when environmental lead levels are lower
than the quality standards since humans are often exposed to lead
via multiple pathways. To establish exposure standards to protect
children from hazards associated with exposure to lead, an analytical
tool for assessing aggregate exposure to lead based on Bayesian hierarchical
model was developed, and then was used to update the external lead
exposure of diet, paint, soil, air and drinking water using the blood
lead levels in Chinese children aged 1–6 years. On the basis
of updated external exposure, the source allocations for diet, paint,
soil, air, and drinking water in China were 65.80 ± 7.92%, 16.98
± 7.88%, 13.65 ± 5.05%, 3.36 ± 1.75%, and 0.20 ±
0.14%, respectively. Based on the estimated source allocations, the
exposure standards were evaluated to be 0.2 μg/m<sup>3</sup>, 24.25 mg/kg, 0.027 μg/L, 0.051 μg/mg, 0.042 μg/mg,
38.02 μg/mg for air, soil, water, grains, vegetables, and paint,
respectively. Since the standards setting procedure was based on the
multipathway aggregate exposure assessment of lead, the newly proposed
exposure standards should ensure the safety of children