Application of a Human Exposure Model in a Pcdd/f Contaminated Site Case Study – Evaluation of Model Performance and Associated Uncertainties

Introduction Although atmospheric deposition is generally the main source for PCDD/F contamination of food chains, other sources can be important at local and regional scales. The former production and use of chlorinated pesticides, such as chlorophenols (CP), is recognized as an important historical source of PCDD/F that has resulted in numerous hot spot sites. Because of strong bioaccumulation properties, soil to food chain transfer of PCDD/Fs is of major concern in human health risk. High costs for sampling and analysis and the large number of contaminated sites are, however, obstacles that prevent detailed site-specific exposure assessments. In such cases, multimedia fate and exposure modeling can usefully be applied to support the risk assessment.