Dioxins Fate and Exposure Risk Assessment in Taipei Metropolitan
In this study the dioxins exposure risk of human in Taipei metropolitan area was assessed. The assessment system was developed by integrating model for pollutant transport among multi environmental media and model for human exposure risk assessment. A fugacity model was used to simulate pollutant transport among multi environmental media to obtain the fate of dioxins given source releases. The simulated dioxin fate data provide the dioxin distribution among four compartments, namely the air, water, soil and sediment. With the dioxin fate data, the human exposure risk can be estimated by tracing human exposure pathways and the accumulated dioxin dose in human body was obtained, hence the carcinogenetic risk can be assessed. The developed assessment system can provide dynamic dioxins risk level for male and female. With the developed assessment system, the risk of dioxins emitted from municipal incinerators in Taipei metropolitan area then was assessed. This study was draw to the following conclusions:
1. The major dioxins exposure path is from ingestion other than from inhalation and dermal absorption,
2. The maximum dioxins exposure dose for male is 15.3 pg TEQ day-1occurred during the age between 25 to 29 years old, while for the female the exposure dose is 11.7 pg TEQ day-1occurred during the age between 30 to 60 years old.
3. In Taipei metropolitan area, the operation of municipal incinerators caused dioxins life time exposure carcinogenetic risk is 8.35×10-6 for male and 7.67×10-6 for female.