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Article

Health Risk Assessment in Children Occupationally and Para-Occupationally Exposed to Benzene Using a Reverse-Translation PBPK Model

by
Kristal Pech
1,
Norma Pérez-Herrera
2,
Ángel Antonio Vértiz-Hernández
3,
Martín Lajous
1,4 and
Paulina Farías
1,*
1
Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca 62100, Mexico
2
Laboratorio de Enfermedades Crónicas y Degenerativas, Unidad Interinstitucional de Investigación Clínica y Epidemiológica, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida 97000, Mexico
3
Coordinación Académica Regional Altiplano, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí 78300, Mexico
4
Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 2275; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032275
Submission received: 12 December 2022 / Revised: 24 January 2023 / Accepted: 25 January 2023 / Published: 27 January 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Living in a Chemical World: Environmental Exposures and Health)
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Abstract

Benzene is a known human carcinogen and one of the ten chemicals of major public health concern identified by the World Health Organization. Our objective was to evaluate benzene’s carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks (current and projected) in highly exposed children in Yucatan, Mexico. Benzene exposure was estimated through a reverse-translation, four-compartment, physiologically based pharmacokinetic model (PBPK) based on previously performed urine trans, trans-muconic acid (benzene metabolite) determinations. Using a risk assessment methodology, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of benzene were estimated for 6–12-year-old children from a family of shoemakers. The children’s hazard quotients for decreased lymphocyte count were 27 and 53 for 4 and 8 h/day exposure, respectively, and 37 for the projected 8 h/day exposure in adults. The risks of developing leukemia were 2–6 cases in 1000 children exposed 4 h/day; 4–10 cases in 1000 children exposed 8 h/day, and 2–9 cases in 1000 adults with an 8 h/day lifetime exposure. Children in Yucatan working in shoe-manufacturing workshops, or living next to them, are exposed to benzene concentrations above the reference concentration and have unacceptably high risks of presenting with non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic hematologic symptoms, now and in the future. Interventions to prevent further exposure and mitigate health risks are necessary.
Keywords: risk assessment; PBPK; children; benzene; leukemia; lymphopenia risk assessment; PBPK; children; benzene; leukemia; lymphopenia

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MDPI and ACS Style

Pech, K.; Pérez-Herrera, N.; Vértiz-Hernández, Á.A.; Lajous, M.; Farías, P. Health Risk Assessment in Children Occupationally and Para-Occupationally Exposed to Benzene Using a Reverse-Translation PBPK Model. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 2275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032275

AMA Style

Pech K, Pérez-Herrera N, Vértiz-Hernández ÁA, Lajous M, Farías P. Health Risk Assessment in Children Occupationally and Para-Occupationally Exposed to Benzene Using a Reverse-Translation PBPK Model. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(3):2275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032275

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pech, Kristal, Norma Pérez-Herrera, Ángel Antonio Vértiz-Hernández, Martín Lajous, and Paulina Farías. 2023. "Health Risk Assessment in Children Occupationally and Para-Occupationally Exposed to Benzene Using a Reverse-Translation PBPK Model" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20, no. 3: 2275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032275

APA Style

Pech, K., Pérez-Herrera, N., Vértiz-Hernández, Á. A., Lajous, M., & Farías, P. (2023). Health Risk Assessment in Children Occupationally and Para-Occupationally Exposed to Benzene Using a Reverse-Translation PBPK Model. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2275. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032275

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