US EPA

198667 

Journal Article 

Case report: Human exposure to dioxins from clay 

Franzblau, A; Hedgeman, E; Chen, Q; Lee, SY; Adriaens, P; Demond, A; Garabrant, D; Gillespie, B; Hong, B; Jolliet, O; Lepkowski, J; Luksemburg, W; Maier, M; Wenger, Y 

2008 

Yes 

Environmental Health Perspectives
ISSN: 0091-6765
EISSN: 1552-9924 

116 

2 

238-242 

English 

18288324 

10.1289/ehp.10594 

WOS:000252831800036 

CONTEXT: For the general population, the dominant source of exposure to dioxin-like compounds is food. As part of the University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study (UMDES), we measured selected polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in serum of 946 subjects who were a representative sample of the general population in five Michigan counties. CASE PRESENTATION: The total toxic equivalency (TEQ; based on 2005 World Health Organization toxic equivalency factors) of serum from the index case was 211 ppt on a lipid-adjusted basis, which was the highest value observed in the UMDES study population. This subject had no apparent opportunity for exposure to dioxins, except that she had lived on property with soil contaminated with dioxins for almost 30 years, and had been a ceramics hobbyist for > 30 years. Soil from her property and clay that she used for ceramics were both contaminated with dioxins, but the congener patterns differed. DISCUSSION: The congener patterns in this subject's serum, soil, and ceramic clay suggest strongly that the dioxin contamination in clay and not soil was the dominant source of dioxin contamination in her serum. RELEVANCE TO PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE: It appears that ceramic clay, in particular the process of firing clay with unvented kilns, can be a significant nonfood and nonindustrial source of human exposure to dioxins among ceramics hobbyists. The extent of human exposure from ceramic clay is unclear, but it may be widespread. Further work is needed to more precisely characterize the routes of exposure. 

ball clay; clay; dioxins; furans; human exposure; polychlorinated biphenyls