Indoor exposure California

In 1985, Berteau and Mengle (1985) of the California Department of Health Services and Maddy of the Department of Food and Agriculture conducted a preliminary review of pesticides used indoors. They noted several cases (six) from the Pesticide Illness Surveillance system in which illness was reported after structural pest control. Hypothetical exposure estimates for infants, children, and adults following label use for propoxur, DDVP, and chlorpyrifos were sometimes greater than toxic levels. In 1987, Berteau et al. (1989) reiterated the concern about the potential magnitude of indoor exposures, particularly for children. 

A fresh lead surface slowly oxidizes into a thin, protective lead oxide (PbO) that stops further oxidation of the metal. Lead gives satisfactory resistance to corrosion in rural, marine, and industrial environments. The corrosion rate data for lead is shown as 0.5-0.7 pm/y in industrial (New York, NY), 1.2-2.2 pm/y in marine (Kure Beach, NC), and 1.05-1.85 pm/y in rural (State College, PA) [6]. Lead corrosion products in such environments, in addition to lead oxide, are sulfate, chloride, and carbonate, with lead chloride being the most soluble of all four products (see Table 1). However, lead in outdoor exposures was found to produce sulfate (PbS04) and/or carbonate (PbC03), and indoor exposures lead carboxylates. The primary atmospheric agents responsible for degradation of lead are SO2, CO2, and carboxylic acid [7]. The corrosion rate of chemical lead in Key West, Florida, and La Jolla, California is 0.58 and 0.53 pm/y (0.023 and 0.021 mpy), respectively [2]. 

Wallace LA. 1986. Personal exposures, indoor and outdoor air concentrations and exhaled breath concentrations of selected volatile organic compounds measured for 600 residents of New Jersey, North Dakota, North Carolina, and California. Toxicol Environ Chem 12 215-236. 

A 1982 guidance document of the World Health Organization (WHO, 1982) suggested use of loose-fitting, cotton, whole-body dosimeters (WBD) to overcome inefficient sample collection. The California Department of Food and Agriculture recognized the limited usefulness of patch dosimeters for determination of ADD in handler, harvester, and indoor pesticide exposure studies (Maddy et al., 1989). Whole-body dosimeters worn outside or inside standard work clothing may be a suitable means to quantitatively collect... 

FIGURE 15.15 Geometric mean PM1(I concentrations outdoors, indoors, and by personal exposure monitors during the day and at night in Riverside, California, weighted to provide estimates of concentrations for household-days or person-days. The error bars are 90th percentile (data from Clayton et at., 1993). 

Clayton, C. A., R. I. Perritt, E. D. Pellizzari, K. W. Thomas, R. W. Whitmore, L. A. Wallace, H. Ozkaynak, and J. D. Spengler, Particle Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (PTEAM) Study Distributions of Aerosol and Elemental Concentrations in Personal, Indoor, and Outdoor Air Samples in a Southern California Community, J. Exposure Anal. Environ. Epidemiol., 3, 227-250 (1993). 

For excellent summaries of general exposure and health effects data for 243 substances, see the California Air Resources Board report (1997b). Each summary describes the physical properties, sources, and concentrations both outdoors and indoors, atmospheric persistence, health effects, and other risk assessment information. 

Exposure to the general population may occur by inhalation due to its presence in the atmosphere as a result of its release from natural sources. Studies have measured levels in both outdoor air and in the indoor air of residences. D-Limonene emissions to the environment have been associated with many plants, for example, wax myrtle, sweet acacia, oranges, tomatoes, grasses, and California western sagebrush. 

Pesticide use around the home provides a significant potential for human exposure in house dust and indoor air. The California Department of Food and Agriculture reported that a sizable number of persons in California required medical attention or contacted a poison control center after use of pesticides such as flea bombs and lawn sprays (Knaak et al. 1987). 

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