Human exposure to pollutants in Poland.

Serious environmental problems caused by decades of mismanagement of Poland's natural resources have been brought to light in recent years. All environmental media--air, water, food, and soil--have been burdened with toxic chemicals. Some environmental problems are so severe that the sources of pollution and the mitigation techniques needed are obvious, requiring no further research, but rather common sense, monies, and determination to implement the necessary controls and mitigation procedures. This paper will not address these obvious cases. Rather it will address that spectrum of environmental problems which requires a better understanding of public health risk in order to develop effective risk management strategies. Because these problems are numerous and monies limited, policy makers will need to set priorities both for research projects and control options. Using environmental concentration data presently available from Poland (especially for air), the paper will estimate human exposures, will point out research and monitoring needs, and hopefully, will lend credence to the concept that environmental policies and risk reduction strategies will be most effective if the Total Human Exposure Concept is used as the guiding scientific principle in risk assessment and management programs.