Mariën Koenraad, Stern Alan H
Department of Health Washington State, OEHA, 7171 Cleanwater Lane, Bldg. 2, P.O. Box 47846, Olympia, WA 98504, USA.
Environ Res. 2005 Jun;98(2):258-67. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2004.08.003.
Efforts to provide for public health protection from environmental contaminants in fish have resulted in various advisories or recommendations with regard to fish consumption from local, state, and federal agencies. These advisories are based on measured levels of contaminants in fish that are combined with values for body weight and portion size to produce an estimate of an "acceptable" consumption frequency (e.g., eat no more than once per month). Because values for body weight and portion size are generally generic default values, they do not necessarily relate to a specific population or to any individual in that population. Thus, the use of default values may result in underprotection or overprotection in any given case. Given the benefits of fish consumption and the risks from overexposure to various toxicants, vigilance is required by custodians of public health to ensure that populations are protected while being cautious not to over- or underprotect them. In this analysis, we examine the "acceptable" consumption limits derived for fish species/groups consumed by three specific populations and determine the extent of public health protection afforded by these limits. To accomplish this, the "acceptable" consumption frequencies are derived based, in part, on default assumptions and are compared to intakes calculated from empirically derived species-specific individual consumption and demographic data. Sensitivity analyses and population-specific probabilistic assessments of exposure are conducted to identify those values and/or assumptions which might significantly influence the resulting fish consumption advisories. Three populations were chosen for study based on their ability to represent populations of greatest concern: those most sensitive and/or those most exposed. We conclude from this investigation that consumption pattern data, contaminant data and body weight data together can be used to make fish consumption advisories more focused and, therefore, less likely to be under- or overprotective.
为保护公众健康免受鱼类中环境污染物的影响，地方、州和联邦机构发布了各种有关鱼类消费的建议或推荐。这些建议基于鱼类中污染物的测量水平，并结合体重和食用份量值，以估算“可接受”的消费频率（例如，每月食用不超过一次）。由于体重和食用份量值通常是通用的默认值，它们不一定与特定人群或该人群中的任何个体相关。因此，在任何特定情况下，使用默认值可能导致保护不足或过度保护。鉴于食用鱼类的益处以及过度接触各种有毒物质的风险，公共卫生监管者需要保持警惕，以确保人群得到保护，同时谨慎避免过度或不足保护。在本分析中，我们研究了三个特定人群食用的鱼类物种/组的“可接受”消费限量，并确定了这些限量所提供的公共卫生保护程度。为此，“可接受”消费频率部分基于默认假设得出，并与根据经验得出的特定物种个体消费和人口统计数据计算的摄入量进行比较。进行敏感性分析和特定人群的暴露概率评估，以确定那些可能显著影响最终鱼类消费建议的数值和/或假设。基于其代表最受关注人群的能力，选择了三个人群进行研究：那些最敏感和/或暴露最多的人群。我们从这项调查中得出结论，消费模式数据、污染物数据和体重数据一起可用于使鱼类消费建议更具针对性，因此不太可能出现保护不足或过度保护的情况。
