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Relating Environmental Lead and Arsenic Exposure to Observed Levels in Humans

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Practical Applications of Medical Geology

Abstract

Biokinetic, or pharmacokinetic, modeling grew out of the need to link environmental exposures to chemicals to levels observed in blood, urine, or other body compartments, which are now commonly measured by programs, such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) program. These models have three broad components: intake (exposure), uptake (bioavailability), and distribution among body compartments. This chapter reviews information pertaining to soil ingestion rates, which is one of the primary routes of exposure for young children to environmental contaminants; lead and arsenic bioavailability to humans; and a variety of predictive models ranging from simple (slope factor models) to complex (biokinetic or pharmacokinetic). The emphasis is on lead, for which a large variety of models have been developed, while arsenic is discussed as well. Finally, US EPA’s reliance on such models in its regulatory decision making is briefly reviewed.

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  1. Gradient, Boston, MA, USA

    Teresa S. Bowers

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  1. Teresa S. Bowers
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Correspondence to Teresa S. Bowers .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine University of New Mexico, LJS Consulting Sandia Park, New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Malcolm Siegel

  2. Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

    Olle Selinus

  3. Department of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

    Robert Finkelman

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Bowers, T.S. (2021). Relating Environmental Lead and Arsenic Exposure to Observed Levels in Humans. In: Siegel, M., Selinus, O., Finkelman, R. (eds) Practical Applications of Medical Geology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53893-4_9

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