Health

INFOTOX has conducted several human health risk assessments (HHRAs) in occupational and residential settings.  Occupational HHRAs involves the usual routes of exposure, namely ingestion, inhalation and dermal uptake of potential toxicants.  INFOTOX uses concentrations of chemical substances in air, water and soil as input to calculate potential health risks in terms of risks of cancer and risks of systemic (non-cancer) effects related to specific target organs.  HHRAs in residential settings follow similar approaches.  Environmental HHRAs assess risks associated with environmental pathways such as contaminated ground- or surface water used for drinking or for household purposes. Contaminated soil is another pathway that poses a risk to children playing outdoors, to gardeners or residents excavating soil on their property, and via contaminated indoor dust.  The third potential pathway is air contaminated with pollutants from various industrial sources.  These include organic and inorganic substances; radioactive substances and the criteria pollutants, which are mainly carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.  Food is a potential pathway of exposure to inorganic contaminants, radioactive substances, dioxins, pesticides and fungicides, if these are present in the environment.

INFOTOX uses concentrations of chemical substances in air, water and soil as input to calculate potential health risks in terms of risks of cancer and risks of systemic effects relating to specific target organs.

Specific examples of projects applied in various settings are HHRAs associated with:

• Mining, mineral processing, fossil fuel combustion and various other industrial activities
• Hazardous metals and metallic compounds
• Various organic and inorganic compounds
• Hazardous waste disposal
• Alternative uses of industrial by-products
• Application of agricultural and veterinary products
• Indoor air contamination by organics and microbial sources
• Contaminated food chains
• Multipathway dioxin HHRA
• HHRAs of contaminated surface water sediments
• Vapour intrusion from subsurface sources in the built environment
• Combustion products from industrial fires
• Destruction of energetic materials
• Radionuclide releases
• Petroleum product releases to soil, air and water
• Environmental and occupational health impacts of fuel additives
• Food supplements

HHRAs inform the client and the public of potential health risks, mitigation needs and options, and potential associated liabilities.