Human health risk assessment for exposure to soil in Kosovo and Bosnia

This report describes a human health risk assessment for British personnel serving in Bosnia and Kosovo. The mathematical description of the risk assessment model is developed based on algorithms used in the commercially available software Risk*Assistant. A simple conceptual exposure model of soil ingestion and soil dust inhalation is developed based on a six-month tour of duty. Two exposed groups have been identified, one with an exposure for 12 hours per day and an office based group with an outdoor exposure of 3 hours per day. It is assumed that there is no indoor exposure to soil and soil dust. The risk calculations indicate that there is no toxic risk at any of the sites and the increased risk of cancer due to soil ingestion and inhalation is below the currently accepted value of one in a million increased risk. Lifetime average daily doses are below the Index Dose thresholds for inhalation of chromium, cadmium and arsenic at all sites. Since the office based group have an exposure duration that is 75% less than the outdoor group the soil intakes are correspondingly linearly reduced by the same amount. Consequently the hazard quotients and carcinogenic risks are also reduced by 75%.