Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology: Continuation of Residue Reviews

155 Pages·1990·11.053 MB·English

by  C. Richard Cothern (auth.), George W. Ware (eds.)

Reviews of Environmental
Contamination and Toxicology
VOLUME 111
Reviews of
Environmental Contamination
and Toxicology
Continuation of Residue Reviews
Editor
George W. Ware
Editorial Board
E Bro-Rasmussen, Lyngby, Denmark
D.G. Crosby, Davis, California· G.H. Hudson, Overijse, Belgium
H. Frehse, Leverkusen-Bayerwerk, Germany
H.E Linskens, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
0. Hutzinger, Bayreuth, Germany· N.N. Melnikov, Moscow, U.S.S.R.
M.L. Leng, Midland, Michigan· R. Mestres, Montpellier, France
D.P. Morgan, Oakdale, Iowa' P. De Pietri-Tonelli, Milano, Italy
Raymond S.H. Yang, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
Founding Editor
Francis A. Gunther
VOLUME III
Springer-Verlag
New York Berlin Heidelberg
London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong
Coordinating Board of Editors
GEORGE W. WARE, Editor
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
College of Agriculture
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
[phone]
HERBERT N. NIGG, Editor
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
Agricultural Research and Education Center
University of Florida
700 Experimental Station Road
Lake Alfred, Florida 33850, USA
[phone]
ARTHUR BEVENUE, Editor
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
35 Fifteenth Avenue
San Mateo, California 94402, USA
[phone]
New York: 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
Heidelberg: 6900 Heidelberg I, Postfach 105280, West Germany
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 62-18595.
ISSN 0179-5953
© 1990 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written
permission of the publisher (Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010, USA),
except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any
form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc. in this publication, even if the
former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by
the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone.
ISBN-13:978·1-4612-7972-3 e-ISBN-\3:978-1-46\2-3340-4
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-46\2-3340-4
Foreword
Global attention in scientific, industrial, and governmental commumtIes to
traces of toxic chemicals in foodstuffs and in both abiotic and biotic environ
ments has justified the present triumvirate of specialized publications in this
field: comprehensive reviews, rapidly published progress reports, and archival
documentations. These three publications are integrated and scheduled to pro
vide in international communication the coherency essential for non duplicative
and current progress in a field as dynamic and complex as environmental con
tamination and toxicology. Until now there has been no journal or other publica
tion series reserved exclusively for the diversified literature on "toxic" chemicals
in our foods, our feeds, our geographical surroundings, our domestic animals,
our wildlife, and ourselves. Around the world immense efforts and many talents
have been mobilized to technical and other evaluations of natures, locales,
magnitudes, fates, and toxicology of the persisting residues of these chemicals
loosed upon the world. Among the sequelae of this broad new emphasis has
been an inescapable need for an articulated set of authoritative publications
where one could expect to find the latest important world literature produced
by this emerging area of science together with documentation of pertinent ancil
lary legislation.
The research director and the legislative or administrative adviser do not have
the time even to scan the large number of technical publications that might con
tain articles important to current responsibility; these individuals need the back
ground provided by detailed reviews plus an assured awareness of newly
developing information, all with minimum time for literature searching. Simi
larly, the scientist assigned or attracted to a new problem has the requirements
of gleaning all literature pertinent to his task, publishing quickly new develop
ments or important new experimental details to inform others of findings that
might alter their own efforts, and eventually publishing all his supporting data
and conclusions for archival purposes.
The end result of this concern over these chores and responsibilities and with
uniform, encompassing, and timely publication outlets in the field of environ
mental contamination and toxicology is the Springer-Verlag (Heidelberg and
New York) triumvirate:
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (Vol. 1 in 1962 as
Residue Reviews through Vol. 97 in 1986) for basically detailed review
articles concerned with any aspects of chemical contaminants, including
vi Foreword
pesticides, in the total environment with their toxicological considerations
and consequences.
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (Vol. 1 in 1966) for
rapid publication of short reports of significant advances and discoveries
in the fields of air, soil, water, and food contamination and pollution as
well as methodology and other disciplines concerned with the introduc
tion, presence, and effects of toxicants in the total environment.
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (Vol. 1 in 1973) for
important complete articles emphasizing and describing original
experimental or theoretical research work pertaining to the scientific
aspects of chemical contaminants in the environment.
Manuscripts for Reviews and the Archives are in identical formats and are sub
ject to review, by workers in the field, for adequacy and value; manuscripts for
the Bulletin are also reviewed but are published by photo-offset to provide the
latest results without delay. The individual editors of these three publications
comprise the joint Coordinating Board of Editors with referral within the Board
of manuscripts submitted to one publication but deemed by major emphasis or
length more suitable for one of the others.
Coordinating Board of Editors
Preface
Despite attempts by the media to convince us our surroundings are under con
tinual chemical assault and not faring well, there is abundant evidence that most
chemicals are degraded or dissipated in our not-so-fragile environment. Yet, we
must content with leaking underground fuel tanks, movement of nitrates and
nitrites into our groundwater reservoirs, increasing air pollution in our large
cities, and seemingly frequent contamination of our food and animal feeds with
pesticides, industrial chemicals, and bacterial toxins.
Without continuing surveillance and intelligent control-s, some of these chemi
cals could at times conceivably endanger the environment, wildlife, and the pub
lic health. Ensuring safety-in-use of the many chemicals involved in our highly
industrialized culture is a dynamic challenge, for the old established materials
are continually being displaced by newly developed molecules more acceptable
to environmentalists, toxicologists, and federal and state regulatory agencies.
These matters are of genuine concern to increasing numbers of governmental
agencies and legislative bodies around the world, for some of these chemicals
have resulted in a few mishaps from improper use. Adequate safety-in-use evalua
tions of any of these chemicals persisting into our air, drinking water, and food
stuffs are not simple matters, and they incorporate the considered judgments of
many individuals highly trained in a variety of complex biological, chemical,
food technological, medical, pharmacological, and toxicological disciplines.
It is hoped that Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology will
continue to serve as an integrating factor both in focusing attention upon those
matters requiring further study and in collating for variously trained readers
present knowledge in specific important areas involved with chemical con
taminants in the total environment. This and previous volumes of "Reviews"
illustrate these objectives. Because manuscripts are published in the order in
which they are received in final form, it may seem that some important aspects
of analytical chemistry, bioaccumulation, biochemistry, human and animal
medicine, legislation, pharmacology, physiology, regulation, and toxicology are
being neglected. To the contrary, these apparent omissions are recognized, and
some pertinent manuscripts are in preparation. However, the field is so large and
the interests in it are so varied that the editor and the Editorial Board earnestly
solicit suggestions of topics and authors to help make this international book
series even more useful and informative.
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology attempts to provide
concise, critical reviews of timely advances, philosophy, and significant areas of
viii Preface
accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of foreign chemicals in any
segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications. These reviews
are either general or specific, but properly they may lie in the domains of analyti
cal chemistry and its methodology, biochemistry, human and animal medicine,
legislation, pharmacology, physiology, regulation, and toxicology. Certain affairs
in the realm of food technology concerned specifically with pesticide and other
food-additive problems are also appropriate subject matter.
The justification for the preparation of any review for this book-series is that it
deals with some aspect of the many real problems arising from the presence ofa ny
"foreign" chemicals in our surroundings. Thus, manuscripts may encompass
those matters in any country. Added plant or animal pest-control chemicals or
their metabolites that may persist into food and animal feeds are within this scope.
The so-called food additives (substances deliberately added to foods for flavor,
odor, appearance, and preservation, as well as those inadvertently added during
manufacture, packing, distribution, and storage) are also considered suitable
review material. In addition, chemical contaminant in any manner to air, water,
soil, or plant or animal life are within this purview and these objectives.
Manuscripts are normally contributed by invitation but suggested topics are
welcome. Preliminary communication with the editor is recommended before
volunteered reviews are submitted in manuscript form.
College of Agriculture G.W.W.
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Table of Contents
Foreword.................................................... v
Preface ..................................................... Vll
Indoor Air Radon
C. RICHARD COTHERN ..................................... .
Ecological Toxicology and Human Health Effects of Heptachlor
E.A. FENDICK, E. MATHER-MIHAICH, K.A. HOUCK;,
M.B ST. CLAIR, J.B. FAUST, C.H. ROCKWELL,
and M. O\VENS ........................................... 61
Subject Index ................................................ 143
Indoor Air Radon
C. Richard Cothern*
Contents
I. Introduction...................................................... 2
A. General Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
B. Nuclear Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
C. Physical Properties ............................................. 5
D. Units of Radioactivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
II. Epidemiological Studies of the Health Effects of Radon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 12
A. General Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 12
B. US Uranium Miners ............................................ 12
C. Ontario (Canada) Uranium Miners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 14
D. Czechoslovakian Uranium Miners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. 15
E. Saskatchewan Uranium Miners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17
F. Swedish Iron Miners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18
G. Newfoundland Fluorspar Miners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 19
H. Secondary Epidemiology Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 20
III. General Comments on Epidemiology Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
A. Exposure ..................................................... 24
B. Possible Interaction Between Smoking and Radon .................... 25
C. Other Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
D. Histopathology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 30
E. Other Health Endpoints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 31
F. Threshold? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 32
G. Future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 33
IV. Dosimetry ....................................................... 33
A. Anatomy of the Lung ........................................... 34
B. Properties of Alpha Particles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 34
C. Modeling of Deposition and Dose Equivalent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 34
D. Factors Involved in Dose Calculations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 35
E. Dose Equivalent Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 37
V. Animal Studies ................................................... 37
VI. Risk Estimates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 38
A. Descriptive Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 38
* Executive Secretary, Science Advisory Board (A-IOIFl, US Environmental Protection Agency,
Washington, D.C., 20460. The thoughts and ideas in this review are those of the author and are not
necessarily those of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
© 1990 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Vol. 111.
2 C.R. Cothern
B. Population Risks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. 41
C. Discussion .............................................. __ . . .. 45
VII. Risk Communication .............. _. ... _ ............. ___ .... __ . . .. 47
Summary __ ....... _. ............................................ __ . .. 49
References ........ _. . __ .. _. ..... _. ........ __ ..... ___ ..... ___ ... ___ . .. 50
L Introduction
The presence of radon is a cause for concern, because it is radioactive; and inha
lation of its decay products, or progeny, at sufficiently elevated levels is known
to cause lung cancer.
Compared to other environmental contaminants, the information for radon is
extensive, and for some needs it is perhaps a case of too much information.
Because of the range of detail and the completeness of the data, there is often a
problem in sorting out the different studies for situations where they differ or are
in conflict. There are so many data, in fact, that different conclusions can be
reached when different data are used.
The main source of indoor radon is soil, and it enters homes through cracks in
basements, through holes around loose fitting pipes, and through holes in founda
tions. Radon also enters the home from drinking water (see Cothern 1987, Fed
eral Register 1986).
In some instances the risk of developing lung cancer from exposure to radon
can be equivalent to smoking several packs of cigarettes a day. The main risk of
lung cancer, however, is from smoking cigarettes. It is estimated that more than
100,000 cigarette smokers die each year from lung cancer, and many more die
from other smoking related diseases. In addition, it is estimated that 5000 lung
cancer fatalities occur each year as a result of the effects of passive smoking. It
is estimated here that between 4,000 and 30,000 fatal lung cancers occur each
year due to exposure to radon in indoor air. The total of all lung cancer fatalities
is presently about 130,000 each year in the United States.
The geological factors controlling radon occurrence can be grouped into three
broad categories that bear upon the characteristics of the nearby geological
formations: their radium (or uranium) content; their physical characteristics, and
the degree of fracturing or faulting. These factors determine the amount of radon
that will be produced and enter into the soil gas and how easily the gas will move
through the soil. The amount of radon in soil gas and the permeability of the sur
ficial material are probably the most significant natural factors affecting indoor
radon concentrations.
This review is not exhaustive and does not necessarily cover every detail con
cerning radon and its progeny but it is intended to give an overview of environ
mental radon and the risk it brings to humans. The main emphases of the current
review are the epidemiological studies and an analysis of the related data. For a
more complete, comprehensive discussion the reader is referred to a supplemen-