Preliminary Health Risk Assessment, Vladivostok Humanitarian Assistance Ecology Project

摘要

The United States Department of Defense is actively involved in a joint ecology project with key health officials in Far East Russia(RFE). As an extension of a Department of State (DOS) humanitarian assistance program that began in 1995, the Department of Defense's Pacific Command (PACOM) has become the lead agency in developing and executing programs to team with Russia counterparts and address environmental and medical issues. This Preliminary Health Risk Assessment conducted jointly by PACOM and Russian Department of Health (DDH) personnel in 1999, was the first major project to support the established ecology goals. The project was designed to focus on quantifying the exposure of children to lead in six kindergartens representative of the kindergarten system. Samples were collected from air, water, soil, painted surfaces, dust, and blood to address the potential exposure impact from a variety of media. The joint service PACOM team divided sample collection and analysis responsibilities and each member was paired with Russia experts for data collection. A total of 1255 samples were collected to provide adequate data to identify sources of lead as well as examined as sources of environmental lead while the blood-lead results were used to determine actual exposure to lead. The collective data, indicates the primary source for lead exposure in this study is the paint used in the kindergartens and in the homes. This technical report summaries our sampling efforts and results as well as recommendations developed to control and reduce lead exposures to children In the Vladlvostok area.