A Comparison of EPA’s Current and Proposed Toxicological Approach to Evaluating Risk from Asbestos 

Lisa Bailey, Menzie-Cura & Associates, Inc., 8 Winchester Place, Suite 202, Winchester, MA 01890, Tel: 781-782-6147, Fax: 781-756-1610, Email: lbailey@menziecura.com

EPA is in the process of updating their approach for estimating health risks from asbestos to better reflect studies on the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects of asbestos.  Despite the fact that considerable advancements have been made in the last 18 years in our understanding of how asbestos exposure contributes to adverse health effects, EPA’s current cancer toxicity value for asbestos has not been updated since 1988. For example, studies demonstrate the significance of asbestos fiber type, fiber size, and smoking status on the toxicity of asbestos. Toxicity studies indicate that certain types of asbestos fibers are significantly more toxic than others, particularly toward induction of mesothelioma. Studies also indicate that fibers longer than 10 mm and thinner than 0.4 mm contribute most to asbestos-related disease, and that asbestos-induced lung cancer is higher among smokers than non-smokers. The current approach for evaluating risk from asbestos, however, is applied equally to all asbestos fiber types and lengths. This poster will discuss EPA’s 2003 document, which provides an overview and evaluation of the toxicity studies on asbestos and proposes an updated asbestos toxicity model that incorporates asbestos fiber type and size into cancer risk calculations for asbestos, and provides a model for accounting for smoking status. Although the proposed approach will likely provide a better estimate of asbestos risk, this poster will discuss remaining uncertainties associated with the proposed approach. This poster will compare estimates of asbestos risk from real site data using the current approach and the proposed approach, and discuss the implications of the proposed approach.       

Getting to Risk Management Decisions at Large DoD Facilities:  Ecological Risk Assessment Tools

William Hill, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southern Division, 2155 Eagle Drive, North Charleston, SC 29406, Tel:  843-820-7324, Email: william.j.hill@navy.mil
Gary Benfield, WPC, Inc. 1017 Chuck Dawley Boulevard, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464, Tel:  843- 884-1234, Fax 843-884-9234, Email: gbenfield@wpceng.com
Allison Harrison, EnSafe, Inc. 5724 Summer Trees Drive, Memphis, TN, 38134, Tel: 901-372-7962, Fax: 901-372-2454, Email: aharris@ensafe.com

Developing a scientifically sound ecological risk assessment (ERA) covering an entire DoD facility is, at the very least, complicated.  Completing this type of task requires the use of many advanced ecological risk assessment tools at each site to make informed decisions about potential risks.  However, after developing the investigation and collecting several rounds of data used to support the decision making process, you are often left with a multi-volume report. These large reports require risk managers to digest an enormous amount of data, much of which may be out of their field of expertise, in order to be ready to make the decisions they are tasked with making.  During a recent facility wide ERA project at NAS Pensacola, this exact scenario came up.  It was apparent that the correct data had been collected, and it was possible to make risk management decisions with the results of the methodologies used; however, the real test was presenting the data in a way that empowered the risk managers to be comfortable making decisions.  Using a combination of summary tables and GIS technology, a set of tables and corresponding figures were developed that allowed for quick presentation of all lines of evidence collected for each wetland group at the site.  These figures were used as the road map to lead the team through all of the data that had been collected, and where the results indicated, remedial efforts were addressed.  Using a combination of thoughtfully selected ERA methodologies (mean ERM quotients, TOC normalized PAH evaluations, developing base-wide pesticide action levels, and sediment toxicity testing) and GIS analysis, meaningful figures were developed and presented to the team in a manner that allowed the NAS Pensacola team to make informed risk management decisions regarding areas where remedial alternative should be considered.

Evaluation of Ecological Risks to Amphibians Exposed to Metals-Contaminated Sediment and Soils

John A. Bleiler, ENSR, 2 Technology Park Drive, Westford, MA 01886, Tel: 978-589-3000, Fax: 978-589-3100, Email: Jbleiler@ensr.aecom.com
Amy Hawkins, United States Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center, 1100 23rd Ave, Port Hueneme, CA 93043, Tel: 805-982-4890, Fax: 805-982-4304, Email: amy.hawkins@navy.mil
David Pillard, ENSR, 4303 W. Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521-2154, Tel: 970-416-0916, Fax: 970-490-2963, Email: DPillard@ensr.aecom.com
Mark S. Johnson, United States Army, Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, MD, 21010, Tel: 410 436 5081, Fax: 410-436-6710, Email: mark.s.johnson@us.army.mil
David J. Barclift, United States Geological Survey, c/o United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029, Tel: 215-814-3341, Fax: 215-814-3015, Email dbarclift@usgs.gov
Doris A (Andy) Anders, Toxicology and Risk Assessment, HQ AFCEE/TDE, Brooks City-Base TX 78235-5112, Tel: 210-536-5667; doris.anders@brooks.af.mil
Jason A. Speicher, United States Navy, Engineering Field Activity Northeast, 10 Industrial Highway, Lester, PA 19113, Tel: 610-595-0567 x 188, Fax: 610-595-0555, Email: jason.speicher@navy.mil
Christine Archer, ENSR, 2 Technology Park Drive, Westford, MA 01886, Tel: 978-589-3000, Fax: 978-589-3100, Email: CArcher@ensr.aecom.com

Amphibians are a front-line indicator of possible adverse impacts to wetland ecosystems; however, no standardized procedure exists to evaluate the potential toxicity of sediments and hydric soils to amphibians. A multi-phase project was initiated to develop a standardized approach for assessing potential risks to amphibians at Department of Defense facilities. The first phase of work included a literature review, development of standardized laboratory testing techniques, limited validation of toxicity testing procedures, quantification of amphibian screening values, and preparation of a guidance manual for assessing potential risks to amphibians. The ongoing work includes additional analysis and validation of laboratory standard operating procedures, lab and field assessment using two constituents (lead and copper) commonly co-located at military sites and ranges, and evaluation of a variety of bioavailability scenarios designed to quantify the effects of site-specific physico/chemical characteristics on environmental toxicity and risk. Recently completed test refinement activities have included dilution series toxicity testing with terrestrial adult salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) and tadpoles (Rana pipiens) exposed to lead, copper, and lead/copper mixtures in sediments and hydric soils. These tests have included evaluation of lethal and sub-lethal effects, as well as tissue residue analysis, and histopathological evaluations. The refinement phase of work has been designed to consider site-specific conditions that influence exposure (e.g., bioavailability), yield results that are protective of various life stages of amphibians, and develop amphibian risk-based screening values that consider such factors as cation exchange capacity and organic carbon. In addition to refining the laboratory portion of the protocol, the project team recently demonstrated and field-validated the protocol at two DoD sites (east and west coast) contaminated with lead and/or copper. The results of this field validation using amphibians as sentinel organisms are contrasted with the results obtained through the use of more traditional risk assessment technologies.

Risk-Based Investigation and Assessment of Very Large Agricultural Areas - Strategies From Hawai’i

Roger C. Brewer, Hawai’i Department of Health, 919 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu, Hawai’i 96814, Tel: 1-808-586-4249, Fax: 1-808-586-7537, Email: roger.brewer@doh.hawaii.gov
R. John Peard, Hawai’i Department of Health, 919 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu, Hawai’i 96814, Tel: 1-808-586-4249, Fax: 1-808-586-7537, Email: john.peard@doh.hawaii.gov
Ukris Wongse-Onst, Hawai’i Department of Health, 919 Ala Moana Blvd, Honolulu, Hawai’i 96814, Tel: 1-808-586-4249, Fax: 1-808-586-7537, Email: ukris.wongse-onst@doh.hawaii.gov
Daniel Ford, Clayton Group Services, 970 North Kalaheo Avenue, Suite C-316, Kailua, Hawai’i, 96734, Tel: 1-808-531-6708, Fax: 1-808-537-4084, Email: dan.ford@us.bureauveritas.com

Investigating large, former agricultural areas for residential and commercial redevelopment can be a daunting task.  For example, the proposed Wai’awa Ridge project in Hawai’i calls for the construction of several thousand homes and numerous commercial complexes, schools and golf courses over a 3,000-acre area.  The primary contaminant of concern is arsenic, assumed to be related to the past use of arsenite-based pesticides.

Existing guidance that calls for the collection of a small number of discrete soil samples per acre was deemed inadequate from both a statistical and risk perspective.  Testing of each individual lot is not feasible, however.  Consolidation of lots into larger and more manageable “decision units” for testing is appropriate but including too many lots in a single sample could cause lot-size hot spots to go undetected.

A better alternative is to combine “multi-increment sampling” and “risk-based screening level” methods to equate decision unit size and sampling strategies with maximum acceptable health risk.  The approach developed for the Wai’awa Ridge project and similar sites can be summarized as follows: 1) Compile list of target contaminants, 2) Develop primary and maximum-acceptable, risk-based screening levels for specific land uses; 3) Subdivide the area into “decision units” based on land use, topographic features, soil type, anticipated lot size and target risks; 4) Collect a multi-increment sample from each unit; and 5) Compare data to primary screening levels and determine the need for additional actions.  The maximum number of lots that can be grouped into a single decision unit is equal to the maximum-acceptable screening level divided by the primary screening level.  For arsenic, this equates to approximately five lots per decision unit.  Statistical methods can be used to limit the number of decision units actually sampled.  Bioaccessible arsenic data are collected for decision units that significantly exceed anticipated background arsenic concentrations.

An Over View of Soil Health Hazards and Ground Water Quality at Long Term Sewage Used Sites in Northern India

S.K. Dubey, Water Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, 110012, INDIA, Tel 91-11-9811572919, Fax. 91-11-25846420, E mail: skdubey@iari.res.in

Changing scenario with the economic development of the society towards large-scale urbanization is leading to production of huge quantities of effluents in India and posing serious environmental problems for their disposal. Industrial and domestic effluents are ether used for irrigation purposes. In Haryana only total volume of sewage water disposed (485 million litres/day) has a potential for supplemental irrigation to a land area of more then 16000 ha/annum in peri-urbun areas. It creates a nutrient potential of 8100, 1200 and 11000 tones in term of NPK. They also contain micronutrients like Zn, Fe and Cu in sufficient amount. Most of the sewage waters were rated suitable for irrigation as they were having electrical conductivity 0.9-3.2 dS/m, sodium adsorption ratio 1.4-6.2 (mmol/litre and residual sodium carbonate 0-8.6 meq/litre. High BOD (244mg/litre), COD (315mg/litre) TDS (1.7 g/litre), NH₄-N (39 mg/litre), Cd (76 ug/litre), Cr (244 ug/litre), Ni (294 ug/litre) and E.coli (4x10⁶/100ml) limits their disposal in water bodies. Results of a case study in Kurukshetra district of Haryana showed that use of domestic sewage for irrigation in various proportions improved the organic matter to 1.24 – 1.78% and fertility status of soils especially down to a distance of 1 km along the disposal channel. Build up in total N  was up to 2908 kg/ha, available P (58 kg/ha), total P (2115 ka/ha), available K (305 kg/ha) and total K (4712 kg/ha) in surface 0-15 cm soil layer. Vertical distribution of these parameters also varied, with most accumulations occurring in surface 0-30 cm. Traces of NO₃-N (up to 2.8 mg/l), Pb (up to 0.35 mg/l) and Mn (up to 0.23 mg/l) could also be observed in well waters near the disposal point, which indicating initiation of ground water contamination. Heavy metal contents in crops sampled from the area were below the permissible limits. Another case study was conducted at Panipat an industrial town disposes its treated effluents from sewage treatment plants of 10 mld capacity in a drain that also carries effluents from a number of dye houses situated along with. The analysis of effluents being discharged by dye houses showed their COD and TDS to average 310 and 3920 mg/l, respectively. The effluent is ultimately let in to the village pond, the water of which showed the COD and TDS values to be 428 and 1470 mg/l. Water samples collected from the existing hand pumps and tube wells along the village pond and ground water, contamination became obvious from their analysis. COD and TDS of water samples from hand pumps were 264 and 1190 mg/l where as in tube well water these values were 151 and 900 mg/l. Though the ground water contamination seemed to decrease with distance from the pond but COD, TDS and BOD values continued to be quite high in water samples drawn from hand pumps (~60m deep) down to a distance of 500m from disposal pond. NO₃-N concentration in tube well waters also declined from 6.3 ppm at 10m to 1.75 ppm at 200m away from pond. However, the major cause of concern in these waters was Pb that varied between 0.11 to 0.45ppm.  Heavy metals like Pb (traces to 28 ppm), Cd (nil to 0.2 ppm), Fe (nil to 215 ppm), Mn (10 to 57 ppm), Ni (nil to 30 ppm) and Cu (0.4 to 16 ppm) were accumulating in plants with in limits prescribed for these metals but once again the cause of concern was high accumulations of Pb e.g.18.8 and 24.4 ppm in berseem and cauliflower those are directly consumed by animals and humans.

Creative Solutions During Construction to Eliminate Hazard Exposures and Reduce Risk

James R. Fair, PE, Weston & Sampson Engineers, Inc., 5 Centennial Drive, Peabody, MA, 01960, Tel: 978-532-1900 ext. 2334, Fax: 978-977-0100, Email: fairj@wseinc.com
George D. Naslas PG, LSP, Weston & Sampson Engineers, Inc., 5 Centennial Drive, Peabody, MA, 01960, Tel: 978-532-1900 ext. 2279, Fax: 978-977-0100, Email: naslasg@wseinc.com

Encountering contamination during a construction project, albeit unwelcome, does not always need to be the costly problem that it first appears to be. When contamination is encountered during a construction project it is critical to think fast, rapidly evaluate options and communicate with client and regulators to address the problem with minimal disruption to the original project. We present two examples where creative remediation strategies were employed to eliminate hazard exposure and manage risk at the sites. One example employed a creative solution to address asbestos impacted soil encountered during construction of a municipal building. Secondly, we present an innovative solution where the construction of an abutting development was extended and utilized to remediate a lead impacted municipally owned facility. The easiest solutions were to excavate and remove the impacted soil; however, both projects resulted in significant cost savings to the clients when compared to the more traditional “dig and haul” approach. 

The Distribution of Fish Advisories for Mercury in Massachusetts

Jane Rose, PhD, Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection, Office of Research and Standards, 1 Winter St., Boston, MA 02108, Tel: 617-574-6874, Email: jane.rose@state.ma.us
Alice Doyle, Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection, DEP GIS Program , 1 Winter St., Boston, MA 02108, Tel: 617-654-6624, Email: alice.doyle@state.ma.us

The Massachusetts Departments of Environment Protection, Public Health, and Fish and Wildlife have tested fish for mercury since the 1980’s.  So far, 234 waterbodies have been tested, resulting in 97 fish advisories, where fish had mercury levels above 0.5 mg/kg.  Fish from 135 waterbodies did not contain unhealthful levels of mercury. 

The range of advisories in a watershed and the exact percentage of advisories in the watersheds where three or more waterbodies have been tested are portrayed using GIS mapping techniques.  More specific information on lakes that have been tested can be found at the MassDEP website at http://mass.gov/dep/toxics/stypes/hgres.htm.  More detailed information on fish advisories, including which species to avoid consuming in lakes with fish advisories, is available at the Massachusetts DPH website: http://db.state.ma.us/dph/fishadvisory/.

Emissions controls for incinerators were imposed in 2000.  Twenty-six lakes have been retested since emissions controls took effect.  Twenty-four had previous advisories for mercury.  Tests in 11 lakes (~46%) showed that mean mercury levels had fallen below 0.5 mg/kg.   Many of the lakes that were retested are in the northeastern part of the state, where four incinerators were located, and industrialization occurred early in the 20^th century.   Patterns and trends of fish mercury distribution are discussed in relation to meteorological phenomena and regulatory management of mercury emissions.

Angler Survey at an Eastern Massachusetts Lake

Amy Rosenstein, MPH, ICF Consulting, Inc., 33 Hayden Avenue, Lexington, MA  02421, Tel: 781-676-4084, Email: arosenstein@icfconsulting.com
Margaret McVey, PhD, ICF Consulting, Inc., Tel: 207-266-2099, Email: mmcvey@icfconsulting.com
Kevin Palaia, MS, ICF Consulting, Inc., Tel: 781-676-4071, Email: kpalaia@icfconsulting.com
James Connolly, MS, U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center, 55 Kansas Street, Natick, MA  01760, Tel: 508-233-5550, Email: James.B.Connolly@us.army.mil

An angler survey was conducted on a recreational lake in Natick, Massachusetts because of potential health concerns associated with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated sediments at the shoreline adjacent to an active army research facility.  Fish consumption practices for anglers harvesting fish from the lake during the open water season were evaluated using an on-site roving creel and recall surveys that included questions about fishing habits, meal size and frequency, fish species caught and whether the species were native or stocked, fish preparation and cooking methods, household members sharing fish, and home town.  The survey was conducted between August 13 and October 30, 2005 and a total of 163 different individuals were interviewed.  Of those individuals, approximately 67% stated that they were “catch and release” anglers only (sport anglers) that predominantly targeted largemouth bass.  Approximately 19% stated that they took the fish home to eat or were observed taking fish home to eat.  Another 14% stated that they would catch and release some fish species and take other fish home to eat, some only consuming stocked species of fish (trout and salmon).  Fish observed in the creel were measured and weighed.  This study provided data on fishing practices for a variety of ethnic groups fishing at a suburban lake near urban centers.  Average daily fish ingestion rates were calculated for anglers that took home fish to eat, with the ingestion rates for native and stocked species calculated separately.  Statistics were also calculated for demographics, ethnic group, fish preparation/cooking method, frequency of fishing, and other study parameters.   

New Method of the Definition of Ecological Danger of the Environmental Objects Pollution

Pavel E. Tulupov, State Educational Institution International academy of modern knowledge, Obninsk, Russia  

Particular qualities and disadvantages of modern methods of evaluation of the state of environmental objects (SEO) pollution have been analyzed –water, soil and atmospheric air

A new informative and express method of the definition of ecological danger of SEO pollution has been suggested. It is based on the fixed impact of individual connections or any mixtures of substances in SEO on the individual living organisms.

New indices as criteria of pollution of any environmental object have been suggested: biological activity of the environment “B_a”, biological effect “B_e” of the impact of individual connections or any mixture of substances in SEO on the probability of survival of individual living organisms in polluted environment relatively the control one(non-polluted), biological activity factor of individual connections impact on the  survival rate of individual living organisms “k_a”.

At low concentrations practically all individual combinations simultaneously have stimulating and toxic properties which are characterized by stimulation factor “k_st” and toxic factor “k_tox”.

All three factors do not depend on the concentration of individual substances and are strong characteristics of properties of individual substances and each type of living organisms.

Strong mathematic dependences which have common character for any individual living organism join all these criteria.

The suggested method allow to get information about after-effects of environmental objects pollution which was inaccessible earlier:
 -comparative set of the sensibility of individuals of different types of living organisms (plants and animals) to the same toxic substances,
-the concentration ranges and  value of demonstration of the stimulating impact  of the individual combinations on the individual living organisms,
-toxic properties not only solutions of the individual salts but individual contribution of cations and anions to summary toxicity,
- value of synergism and antagonism effect at the simultaneous presence of two or more number of individual combinations in water or soil
- contribution of separate groups of combinations to summary toxic properties of combination mixtures,
- dependence of sensibility of individuals of living organisms of the same  type to individual toxic substances on sex, age, state of health (pregnancy),
-direct ecological damage  number of beyond redemption individuals of various  types of living organisms) and direct economic damage (cost of beyond redemption individuals of various types of living organisms) caused to the environment at the ecological violations of the law, accidents and states of emergency of natural or man-caused character.
-forecast of the ecological situation at the initial state using emergency situations and estimation with strong mathematic equations of the number of beyond redemption of individuals of various types f living organisms.

An important advantage of the suggested method is that it is not necessary to define individual combinations by instrumental or chemical methods.   

Any of these factor will be illustrated by particular examples.    

Estimation of Risks and Possible Ecological and Economic Damages from Large-Scale Natural and Man-Induced Catastrophes in Ecology-Hazard Regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus

A.N. Valyaev, S.V. Kazakov, A.A. Shamaeva, Nuclear Safety Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow
O.V. Stepanets, Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, RAS, Moscow
H.D. Passel H.D., Geosciences and Environment Center Sandia National Laboratories, Cooperative Monitoring Center, USA
V.P. Solodukhin, Nuclear Physics Institute of National Academy of Sciences, Kazakhstan Republic, Almaty
G.M. Alexanyan, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
D.I. Aitmatova, Institute of Physics and Mechanic of Rock Stones of National Academy Sciences, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Republic
R.F. Mamaedov, Geology Institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Azerbaijan
M.S. Chkhartishvili, Scientific Center for Radiobiology and Radiation Ecology, Georgian Academy of Sciences  

It is our international Program with  the participation of the six  countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. For all presented  regions we  single out the following typical factors that increase significantly a  risk of implementing natural and man-induced catastrophes:(1)these regions are located in the mountain lands with the high seismic level (5- 9 grades by  Richter scale); (2)the largest mountain rivers  have cascades of powerful hydroelectric stations   with their sizeable reservoirs  and   huge high dams (>100m); (3)on the regions’ densely populated lands there are plenty of mines for extraction of metals/minerals, industrial facilities  and plants with U-tailing dumps and burrows of varied pollutants with using the different  radioactive, toxic and poisonous substances in their technologies; (3)the man-induced activity here increases probabilities for occurrence of not only severe man-induced catastrophes, but also natural ones; (4) An especially grave situation has been created on trans boundary lands of the states, due to the lack of common ecological and geochemical monitoring systems, that increasing political and economic tension between the countries and generating of negative migration processes; (5)risks and ecological-economic damages from catastrophes are not only regional but also global by nature, since they entail contamination of vast lands, the basins of the Black,  Caspian  and Kara Seas, that of the Arctic Ocean and, consequently, the entire World Ocean; (6) opportunity to perform deliberate attacks of terrorists with the using of explosives, that are  able to cause man-induced catastrophes and stimulate natural calamities (earthquakes, mudflows, landslips, etc.).  It is easier to implement attacks of terrorists there due to the intersection of main lines, an available border with current centers of international terrorism, located in Chechnya, Afghanistan and some others.  Especially great is the hazard for new independent states, where the system of safety, boundary and customs control, that of strict visa control and other state safety measures have not yet been formed. Consequences from attacks of terrorists in the regions will be followed by major human and huge material losses, and extremely negative irreversible environmental effects of global scale.

The humankind has faced the majority of the above issues for the first time and, therefore, there are no good suitable  methods provided for their solving. A purposeful activity of all states of the world community is required. Program’s results of Program 3  will  be used in the following way: (1) When developing a methodology/strategy to regulate and manage risks in emergencies;(2)when mapping risk allocation by various lands; (3)when developing a common system for emergency prevention/elimination.

Our Nuclear Safety Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences (IBRAE RAS) has own  experience in these scientific directions (http://www.ibrae.ac.ru).

This Program will be promote the realization of concept of substantial development with growth of economical cooperation and stability, decreasing of political stress not only  for the  countries- participants, but also at global scale for  all countries, located at the  continent.

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