HEALTH CONSULTATION

CALCASIEU PARISH (CALCASIEU ESTUARY)
LAKE CHARLES, CALCASIEU PARISH, LOUISIANA


CONCLUSIONS

1. A pooled blood sample and three of 11 individual blood samples contained concentrations of dioxin-like compounds that exceeded average background concentrations in the general population.
   
   
2. The reported concentrations of dioxin-like compounds in sediment and clams do not pose a public health hazard.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Identify possible exposure sources of dioxin in the three individuals with elevated blood dioxin levels and implement measures to reduce exposure.

Kenneth Orloff, Ph.D., DABT             

REFERENCES

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Interim Procedures for Estimating Risks Associated with Exposures to Mixtures of Chlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and -Dibenzofurans (CDDs and CDFs) and 1989 Update; EPA/625/3-89/0616; March 1989.
   
   
2. L.L Needham, D.G. Patterson, V.W. Burse, et al.; Reference Range Data for Assessing Exposure to Selected Environmental Toxicants; Toxicol. Indus. Health; 12; 507-513 (1996).
   
   
3. M.J. DeVito., L.S. Birnbaum, W.H. Farland, and T.A. Gasiewcz; Comparisons of Estimated Human Body Burdens of Dioxinlike Chemicals and TCDD Body Burdens in Experimentally Exposed Animals; Environ. Health Perspec.; 103 820-831 (1995).
   
   
4. U.S. Department of Agriculture; cited in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Exposure Factors Handbook, Volume II, Food Ingestion Factors; EPA/600/P-95/002Fb; August 1997.
   
   
5. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Estimating Exposure to Dioxin-Like Compounds, Volume II: Properties, Sources, Occurrence and Background Exposures, Review Draft; June 1994.
   
   
6. R.P. Brown, K. Cooper, A. Cristini, C. Rappe, and P-A. Bergqvist; Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in Mya arenaria in the Newark/Raritan Bay estuary; Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 13; 523-528 (1994).

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