On the importance of developing integrative modelling approaches within the framework of human exposure assessment.

摘要

Human populations can be exposed to chemical hazards present in the environment and in particular to chemicals present in food. In practice, environmental and human exposure assessments are generally conducted independently on the basis of multiple sources data and relying on separately developed methods, models and scenarios. Connecting the assessments of environmental and human exposure by developing multimedia modelling is of great interest in order to better characterize the different routes across which human populations can be exposed to chemicals. Significant efforts were recently made to improve information by conducting Total Diet Studies (TDS) and collecting human biomonitoring data although these study types have not been considered in combination to study total exposure. Aim: The background objective of this study is to develop integrative approaches that accommodate available data sources for relating external and internal exposure. Specifically, this study aims at developing methodological tools to account for the different routes while assessing human exposure to chemical contaminants or residuals. Methods: Approaches will be developed for multi-pathway and multimedia exposure models using food monitoring data, the results of total diet studies and environmental and biomonitoring data. Bayesian modelling will preferably be adopted enabling the combination of a priori knowledge (e.g. expert advices) and multiple data sources (e.g. TDS and human biomonitoring data), and to capture uncertainty/variability. This conceptual approach will be applied focusing on case-studies relevant to German dietary patterns by considering the results of the German total diet study. Results and discussion: This study will allow better understanding the total chemical exposure of the German population by the identification of sensitive exposure patterns (e.g. high consumers of particular food items). These results, which aim at bridging the gaps between environmental and human exposure assessment models, will improve the characterization of the contribution of environmental processes while predicting on a population level the internal exposure of human to chemical (or radioactive) substances.