• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-29
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• 2008

The Ministry of Environment(MoE) of Korea has recently established the Environmental Health Act. This Act contains a clause related to implementation of Health Impact Assessment(HIA). So, selecting a landfill which was expected to have an influence on human health among major development projects, this study carried out the human risk assessment due to inhalation exposure to landfill gas emission and attempted to measure the possibility of domestic application of HIA in the future. The process for HIA on landfill site extension focusing on human risk assessment is as follows: The first step is to presume and calculate the amount of landfill gas emissions using LandGEM, The second step is to carry out exposure assessment using K-SCREEN Model which is used for predicting the concentration in a conservative method. The last step is to carry out human risk assessment of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic substances. It is considered that it is likely to apply a technique for human risk assessment due to inhalation exposure to landfill gas emission performed here more specifically in the case of implementing HIA. In addition, it is also believed that more systematic studies are needed to overcome some weak points and limits found in this study and if these weak points and limits are improved more reliable outcomes will be produced.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.63-74
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• 2019

This study carried out a human risk assessment of Cu, Pb, Zn and Ni contained in soil contaminated by improperly buried heavy metal wastes in railway sites. The purpose of the human risk assessment is to derive the need for soil remediation and factors that should be considered during soil remediation. Risk assessment was performed in accordance with the Environment Ministry's Risk Assessment Guidelines. The results of the human risk assessment of contaminated heavy metal soil contaminated by improperly buried waste in the railway site were presented after the process of determining exposure concentration, calculating exposure, and determining carcinogenic hazards. The heavy metal content of soil is 621.3 Cu mg/kg, 2,824.5 Pb mg/kg, 1,559.1 Zn mg/kg and 45 Ni mg/kg, which is the exposure concentration of the target contaminant. The results of human exposure according to exposure pathways were high in the order of soil outdoor dust >soil ingestion >soil contact, and Pb >Zn >Cu >Ni were higher in order of contaminant. The carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks of soil contaminated with heavy metal waste were higher than the allowable carcinogenic risks (TCR> $10^{-6}$) and the risk index (Hi < 1.0) suggested by USEPA. Therefore, the site needs to be remediated.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.259-270
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• 2010

We conducted human risk assessment for exposure to inhalation of chemical substances emitted from the storage tanks of petroleum refineries. To assess human risk, this study calculated chemical emissions from the external floating roofs on storage tank at petroleum refineries, as well as concentrations thereof in the ambient air using the K-SCREEN model, and then determined risk in accordance with the Reference Concentration (RfC) values and Inhalation Unit Risk criteria developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The results indicated that non-carcinogenic chemicals have a hazard quotient of less than 1, meaning they have an insignificant effect on human health for residential areas near the storage tanks. Among the known carcinogens, the hazard risk for benzene slightly exceeded $10^{-6}$, indicating the need for corrective reduction measures. The methodology for health impact assessment devised herein provides findings useful in decision making for policy makers and the general public with respect to construction of industrial complexes. However, the methodology proposed herein does have limitations, including discrepancy in results induced by use of U.S. data (due to the lack of usable domestic data). More systematic studies from related researchers will be needed to address these issues and produce more reliable outcomes.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.10 no.1_2
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• pp.21-35
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• 1995

Risk assessment processes, which include processes for the estimation of human cancer potency using animal bioassay data and calculation of human exposure, entail uncertainties. In the exposure assessment process, exposure scenarios with various assumptions could affect the exposure amount and excess cancer risk. We compared risk estimates among various exposure scenarios of vinyl chloride, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene in tap water. The contaminant concentrations were analyzed from tap water samples in Seoul from 1993 to 1994. The oral and inhalation cancer potencies of the contaminants were estimated using multistage, Weibull, lognormal, and Mantel-Bryan model in TOX-RISK computer software. In the first case, human excess cancer risk was estimated by the US EPA method used to set the MCL(maximum contaminant level). In the second and third case, the risk was estimated for multi-route exposure with and without adopting Monte-Carlo simulation, respectively. In the second case, exposure input parameters and cancer potencies used probability distributions, and in the third case, those values used point estimates(mean, and maximum or 95% upper-bound value). As a result, while the excess cancer risk estimated by US EPA method considering only direct ingestion tended to be underestimated, the risk which was estimated by considering multi-route exposure without Monte-Carlo simulation and then using the maximum or 95% upper-bound value as input parameters tended to be overestimated. In risk assessment for volatile organic compounds, considering multi-route exposure with adopting Monte-Carlo analysis seems to provide the most reasonable estimations.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2012

This study investigated the human health risks of trichloroethylene from Industrial Complex A. The excessive carcinogenic risks for central tendency exposure were $1.40{\times}10^{-5}$ for male and female residents in the vicinity of Industrial Complex A. The excessive cancers risk for reasonable maximum exposure were $2.88{\times}10^{-5}$ and $1.97{\times}10^{-5}$ for males and females, respectively. These values indicate that there are potential cancer risks for exposure to these concentrations. The hazard index for central tendency exposure to trichloroethylene was 1.71 for male and female residents. The hazard indexes for reasonable maximum exposure were 3.27 and 2.41 for males and females, respectively. These values were over one, which is equivalent to the threshold value. This result showed that adverse cancer and non-cancer health effects may occur and that some risk management of trichloroethylene from Industrial Complex A was needed.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.121-126
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• 2002

The work presents a realistic human exposure assessment of indoor radon released from groundwater in a house. At first, a two-compartment model is developed to describe the generation and transfer of radon in indoor air from groundwater. The model is used to estimate radon concentrations profile of indoor air in a house us]ng by showering, washing clothes, and flushing toilets. Then, the study performs an uncertainty analysis of model input parameters to quantify the uncertainty in radon concentration profile. In order to estimate a daily internal dose of a specific tissue group in an adult through the inhalation of such indoor radon, 3 PBPK(Physiologically-Based Pharmaco-Kinetic) model is developed. Combining indoor radon profile and PBPK model is used to a realistic human assessment for such exposure. The results obtained from this study would be used to the evaluation of human risk by inhalation associated with the indoor radon released from groundwater.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.317-329
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• 1992

Fifty chemicals are currently classified as human carcinogens based on epidemiologic and animal data. Humans are daily exposed to them from various sources of exposure via inhalation, dermal contact and oral ingestion. To reduce cancer risk to man, these human carcinogens should be appropriately regulated and monitored environmentally or biologically for routine human cancer risk assessment. A number of mathematical risk assessment models have been introduced, but any realistic and relevant model system is not available for humans. A mechanistic process for human cancer risk assessment was comprehensively reviewed and problems were also discussed. Here, a new conceptual approach using epidemiology and biological human monitoring was suggested for the most relevant method to study human cancer risk assessment.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.239-248
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• 2009

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science in the United States concluded in its 2004 report that excessive indoor dampness is a public health hazard and that its prevention should be a public health goal. Water damage in buildings, such as leaks from roofs, walls, or windows, may increase indoor moisture levels. Excessive dampness may promote microbial proliferation in indoor environments, increase occupants' exposure to microbial agents, and eventually produce adverse health effects in building occupants. Epidemiological studies to demonstrate the causal association between exposure to indoor microbial agents and health effects require reliable exposure assessment tools. In this review, I discuss various sampling and analytical methods to assess human exposure to biological agents in indoor environments, their strengths and weaknesses, and recent trends in research and practice in the USA.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.261-268
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• 2014

In advanced countries, a variety of consumer exposure assessment models including CONSEXPO, are developed to manage risks of consumer products containing hazardous materials. The models are used to assess the risks of exposure to hazardous chemicals in consumer products, which serves as a foundation for regulation standards. In this study, exposure assessment models applicable for various scenarios were reviewed and a proper model was applied for the selected products and risk assessment was conducted at each stage to establish a risk assessment procedure for different types of products. Based on the exposure scenario, exposure factor was selected and according to the algorithm produced based on CONSEXPO exposure model, some level of phthalates were detected from some types of PVC flooring. However, a correlation between phthalate content and migration rate showed r-square 0.0065, little correlation, which is inadequate for estimating standard value. For this reason, it seems valid that the current standard be in place. Additionally, any new standard was not suggested as VOCs were not found harmful to human health, allowing the existing standard to be continuously applied. No migration rate was found for heavy metals and risk assessment was not performed accordingly. In this aspect, it is presumed that hazards to health through dermal exposure would be very little.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.136-149
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to perform an aggregate human risk assessment for benzene in an industrial complex using the CalTOX model and to improve the reliability and predictability of the model by analyzing the uncertainty and sensitivity of the predicted assessment results. Methods: The CalTOX^TM 4.0 beta model was used to evaluate a selected region, and @Risk 7.6 software was used to analyze uncertainty and sensitivity. Results: As a result of performing the aggregate risk assessment on the assumption that 6.45E+04 g/d of benzene would be emitted into the atmosphere over two decades, 3% of the daily source term to air remained in the selected region, and 97% (6.26E+04 g/d) moved out of the region. As for exposure by breathing, the predicted LADD_inhalation was 2.14E-04 mg/kg-d, and that was assessed as making a 99.99% contribution to the LADD_total. Regarding human Risk_cancer assessment, the predicted human cancer risk was 5.19E-06 (95% CI; 4.07E-06-6.81E-06) (in the 95th percentile corresponding to the highest exposure level, a confidence interval of 90%). As a result of analyzing sensitivity, 'source term to air' was identified as the most influential variable, followed by 'exposure time, active indoors (h/day)', and 'exposure duration (years)'. Conclusions: As for the results of the human cancer risk assessment for the selected region, the predicted human cancer risk was 5.19E-06 (95% CI; 4.07E-06-6.81E-06) (in the 95th percentile, corresponding to the highest exposure level, a confidence interval of 90%). As a result of analyzing sensitivity, 'source term to air' was found to be most influential.