Environmental Pollution Prevention & Waste Management Hierarchy
Environmental Risk assessment (ERA) components
(First part 1-4): 1) Problem definition / hazard identification -> 2 & 3 2) Hazard characterization -> 4 3) Exposure assessment -> 4 4) Risk characterization -> 5 (Second Part): 5) Risk communication -> 6 6) Risk management
Excess risk =
(Pi - P0)/(1 - P0) Pi: incidence at non-zero dose i P0: be the incidence for no dose (control)
Cancer Endpoint Descriptors. The human carcinogenic potential of a chemical is classified as:
- Likely to Be Carcinogenic to Humans - Suggestive Evidence of Carcinogenic Potential - Inadequate Information to Assess Carcinogenic Potential - Not Likely to Be Carcinogenic to Humans
Compartmental Model Approach
1) Describe system being modeled - Routes of exposure - Transport between compartments - Excretion 2) Set Goal - i.e. Dynamics (time trends) for Pb accumulation in each compartment 3) Outline approach and assumptions
Why pollution prevention?
1) Economic - Process efficiency - Cost of waste disposal/emissions - Future liability 2) Regulatory compliance 3) Environmental Stewarship
Risk assessment stages associated with EPA's IRIS
1) Hazard identification 2) Dose-response assessment (Hazard characterization)
Routes of exposure
Dermal (through skin) Inhalation (breathing) Ingestion (oral)
feed -> reactor -> product + unreacted feed -> separator -> 1) product 2) unreacted feed fed back into the original feed stream
In-process recycling
The most common cancer descriptors are:
Inhalation unit risk (IUR) Oral slope factor (OSF)
IRIS stands for:
Integrated Risk Information System
Exposure
Magnitude and length of time an organism is in contact with the hazard-causing substance or situation
RfD =
NOAEL/(FA*FH*FS*FL*FD) F's are adjustment factors for: A: extrapolation from animals to humans H: differences in human susceptibility S: data obtained from subchronic studies L: LOAEL used instead of NOAEL D: dubious or incomplete data
Genotoxic carcinogen
No safe level of exposure
Pareto Curve
Optimization of cost and waste. Includes Pareto-optimal line with feasible region and existing technology clusters above it, and the infeasible region below.
Input from environment denoted as
P
PBPK Model is and is used to:
Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Model Used to relate the amount of chemical exposure to the amount of chemical found in the blood and organs at different points in time.
BMD =
PoD/UF Where: -PoD = Point of Departure for human health exposure guidelines, can be the NOAEL or the BMDL -UF = composite uncertainty factor (denominator in the NOAEL equation)
Hazard
Potential of a substance or situation to cause harm or to create adverse impacts on persons or environment
Non-Cancer Endpoint Descriptors
Reference dose (RfD) Reference concentration (RfC)
Basic premise of pollution prevention
Risk reduction!
Non-genotoxic carcinogen
Safe level (threshold) of exposure
EPA definition of pollution prevention in WM hierarchy
Source reduction -> in-process recycling
Our definition of P^2
Source reduction -> in-process recycling -> on-site (out of process recycling) -> off site recycling
Risk
The combination of the probability, or frequency, of occurrence of a defined hazard, and the magnitude of the consequences of the occurence Risk = f(Hazard, Exposure)
Benchmark Dose (BMD)
The dose that corresponds to a specific change in an adverse response compared to the response in unexposed subjects. It is determined by modeling a dose-response curve in the region of the dose-response relationship where biologically observable data are available. To take uncertainty of the data into consideration, the dose of interest is the lower 95% confidence limit (i.e., BMDL) on the BMD. On the other hand, the calculation of a NOAEL generally utilizes data that are categorized into distinct dose groups, and categorization of subjects into dose groups is an arbitrary process
mass balance
accumulation = inputs + formation - outputs - consumption
Reference Dose (RfD) (non-cancer endpoints):
an estimate of daily exposure of the human population (including sensitive subgroups), that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime. It can be derived from a NOAEL, LOAEL, or benchmark dose, with uncertainty factors generally applied to reflect limitations of the data used.
Inhalation unit risk (IUR)
an estimate of the increased cancer risk from inhalation exposure to a concentration of 1 µg/m3 for a lifetime. The IUR can be multiplied by an estimate of lifetime exposure (in µg/m3) to estimate the lifetime cancer risk.
Oral slope factor (OSF)
an estimate of the increased cancer risk from oral exposure to a dose of 1 mg/kg-day for a lifetime. The OSF can be multiplied by an estimate of lifetime exposure (in mg/kg-day) to estimate the lifetime cancer risk.
feed -> reactor -> product + waste -> separator -> 1) product 2) waste -> environment
direct release to environment
Cancer Slope Factor (CSF) (a.k.a. oral slope factor (OSF) =
excess risk/dose rate in mg/(kg-day) so units are (kg-day)/mg
compartmental mass balance subscripts
k_FROM->TO * m_FROM so if B = blood, M = marrow k_BM * m_B is the transfer rate from blood to marrow
Input to environment denoted as
k_compartment -> E * m_compartment
LOAEL
lowest observed adverse effect level
NOAEL
no observed adverse effect level
feed -> reactor -> product + waste -> separator -> 1) product 2) transport of waste -> cross site boundary -> different process -> different product
off-site recycling
feed -> reactor -> product + waste -> separator -> 1) product 2) Waste -> different process -> different product
on-site recycling (out of process)
feed -> reactor -> product + waste -> separator -> 1) product 2) waste -> landfill
secure disposal
feed -> reactor -> product + less waste
source reduction
Waste Management Hierarchy
source reduction -> in-process recycling -> on-site recycling (out of process) -> off site recycling -> waste treatment -> secure disposal -> direct release to environment
feed -> reactor -> product + waste -> separator -> 1) product 2) waste -> waste treatment -> different waste
waste treatment
Dose response curve
y = toxic response (%) x = log(dose) if toxic response % is death %: LD50 = lethal dose killing 50% of the population (occurs at a toxic response of 50%).
RfC
An estimate (with uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude) of a continuous inhalation exposure to the human population (including sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime. It can be derived from a NOAEL, LOAEL, or benchmark concentration (these terms are defined on later pages), with uncertainty factors generally applied to reflect limitations of the data used.
