A targeted health risk assessment following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure in Vietnamese-American shrimp consumers

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 prompted concern about health risks among seafood consumers exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) via consumption of contaminated seafood. The objective of this study was to conduct population-specific probabilistic health risk assessments based o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental health perspectives 2015-02, Vol.123 (2), p.152-159
Main Authors: Wilson, Mark J, Frickel, Scott, Nguyen, Daniel, Bui, Tap, Echsner, Stephen, Simon, Bridget R, Howard, Jessi L, Miller, Kent, Wickliffe, Jeffrey K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analytical chemistry
Animals
Anthracene
Asian Americans
Asian Continental Ancestry Group
Body weight
Cancer
Carcinogens
Coasts
Community
Computer simulation
Consumers
Consumption
Crude oil
Decapoda
Diet
Environmental aspects
Environmental protection
Ethnic Groups
Female
Fisheries
Food Contamination - analysis
Food Contamination - statistics & numerical data
Government agencies
Health
Health aspects
Health risk assessment
Health risks
Humans
Litopenaeus setiferus
Louisiana - epidemiology
Male
Middle Aged
Monte Carlo simulation
Naphthalene
Neoplasms - chemically induced
Neoplasms - epidemiology
Oil spills
Penaeidae - chemistry
Petroleum Pollution - analysis
Petroleum Pollution - statistics & numerical data
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - analysis
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - toxicity
Research design
Risk
Risk Assessment
Seafood
Seafood - analysis
Seafood - statistics & numerical data
Shrimps
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity
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Summary:The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 prompted concern about health risks among seafood consumers exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) via consumption of contaminated seafood. The objective of this study was to conduct population-specific probabilistic health risk assessments based on consumption of locally harvested white shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus) among Vietnamese Americans in southeast Louisiana. We conducted a survey of Vietnamese Americans in southeast Louisiana to evaluate shrimp consumption, preparation methods, and body weight among shrimp consumers in the disaster-impacted region. We also collected and chemically analyzed locally harvested white shrimp for 81 individual PAHs. We combined the PAH levels (with accepted reference doses) found in the shrimp with the survey data to conduct Monte Carlo simulations for probabilistic noncancer health risk assessments. We also conducted probabilistic cancer risk assessments using relative potency factors (RPFs) to estimate cancer risks from the intake of PAHs from white shrimp. Monte Carlo simulations were used to generate hazard quotient distributions for noncancer health risks, reported as mean ± SD, for naphthalene (1.8 × 10-4 ± 3.3 × 10-4), fluorene (2.4 × 10-5 ± 3.3 × 10-5), anthracene (3.9 × 10-6 ± 5.4 × 10-6), pyrene (3.2 × 10-5 ± 4.3 × 10-5), and fluoranthene (1.8 × 10-4 ± 3.3 × 10-4). A cancer risk distribution, based on RPF-adjusted PAH intake, was also generated (2.4 × 10-7 ± 3.9 × 10-7). The risk assessment results show no acute health risks or excess cancer risk associated with consumption of shrimp containing the levels of PAHs detected in our study, even among frequent shrimp consumers.
ISSN:0091-6765
1552-9924
DOI:10.1289/ehp.1408684