Judd N L, Griffith W C, Kalman D A, Faustman E M
Department of Environmental Health, Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, University of Washington, 4225 Roosevelt Way #100, Seattle 98105, USA.
Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2003 Jan;44(1):132-9. doi: 10.1007/s00244-002-2001-x.
Congener-specific PCB analysis allows use of toxic equivalency (TEQ) TCDD-based risk assessment approaches when analytical methods are sufficiently sensitive. Many efforts to analyze fish samples for PCB congeners report the majority of samples as non-detects; these data are of little use for human health risk assessment if the limits of analytical detection exceed levels of potential health concern. However, increasing analytical sensitivity is costly and technically difficult. An approach to assess analytical sensitivity needs for risk assessment by defining toxicological endpoints of concern and acceptable risk levels is presented. This framework was applied to assessment of potential PCB TEQ cancer risks to the general United States population and tribal consumers of Columbia River fish, but may be easily adjusted for other situations. A probabilistic model was used to calculate the necessary analytical sensitivity for PCB TEQ cancer risk assessment using the Environmental Protection Agency's new draft cancer risk slope factor for TCDD and fish consumption data. Desired levels of analytical sensitivity were estimated for the congener expected to contribute the most to PCB TEQ, PCB 126, and compared to limits of detection for various analytical methods. The financial and health value of methods with different levels of analytical sensitivity were compared using a value of information approach, which includes analytical cost and cost of potential health outcomes, and a proposed risk assessment utility approach which considers the relative health protectiveness of analytical options non-monetarily. Sensitivity analyses indicate that average consumption rate, cancer risk slope factor choice, and knowledge of existing PCB contamination are important considerations for planning PCB congener analysis.
当分析方法具有足够的灵敏度时，同系物特异性多氯联苯分析允许使用基于毒性当量（TEQ）二噁英的风险评估方法。许多分析鱼类样本中多氯联苯同系物的研究报告称，大多数样本未检出；如果分析检测限超过潜在健康关注水平，这些数据对人类健康风险评估几乎没有用处。然而，提高分析灵敏度成本高昂且技术难度大。本文提出了一种通过定义关注的毒理学终点和可接受的风险水平来评估风险评估所需分析灵敏度的方法。该框架被应用于评估美国普通人群和哥伦比亚河鱼类部落消费者中多氯联苯TEQ的潜在癌症风险，但也可轻松调整以适用于其他情况。使用概率模型，根据美国环境保护局新的二噁英癌症风险斜率因子草案和鱼类消费数据，计算多氯联苯TEQ癌症风险评估所需的分析灵敏度。针对预计对多氯联苯TEQ贡献最大的同系物多氯联苯126，估计了所需的分析灵敏度水平，并与各种分析方法的检测限进行了比较。使用信息价值方法（包括分析成本和潜在健康结果成本）以及一种拟议的风险评估效用方法（非货币性地考虑分析选项的相对健康保护程度），比较了具有不同分析灵敏度水平的方法的财务和健康价值。敏感性分析表明，平均消费率、癌症风险斜率因子的选择以及现有多氯联苯污染的知识是规划多氯联苯同系物分析时的重要考虑因素。
