Risk Assessment for Children Exposed to Arsenic

Overview

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Key numbers

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and some vegetables has diminished greatly since the 1970s. The desiccant properties of arsenic are
deaths in association with drinking water arsenic concentrations ranging from 50 to 900 µg/L (14).
level today is 0.7 mg/kg (25). This screening level is based on the carcinogenic risk level of 1 × 10−6
2.1 mg/kg for residential areas and 12 mg/kg for commercial/industrial areas (26).
Globally, background concentrations of arsenic in soils are around 5 mg/kg with ranges from
1 to 40 mg/kg (27). In Florida, the average concentration measured in surface soils was 1.3 mg/kg (28).
A study by Chirenje et al. (29) found that levels were lower in non-urban soils (0.27 mg/kg) relative
observed for benzo(a)pyrene which was below the practical quantification limit (PQL) of 0.037 mg/kg
and for 4,4-DDE which was below the PQL of 0.0037 mg/kg. For more details about the specific
risk based level for arsenic in Florida is 2.1 mg/kg, and samples collected during the initial screening
ballfields were at intermediary values; and outfield samples were the highest (Table 2) (p < 0.001).
Table 1. Arsenic concentrations with depth at Chapman and Colonial Fields. These results include all
was 29.6 mg/kg. These results are biased low because they were collected early during the sampling study during
Table 2. Arsenic concentrations by location at Chapman and Colonial Fields. These results include all
concentration values, Cs in Equations (1)–(3), were used to compute risk (Table 3). All of the concentrations
soil depth samples. The first set of concentration values corresponded to the 95% upper confidence
data skewness, and data distribution when computing the upper 95% UCL of the mean. The remaining
for Chapman field and, (d) the 95% UCL based upon levels measured in outfield areas. For this
at alternate exposures we found that 95% upper confidence limits (UCL) considered distributional
skewness and in some cases outliers. As a result the 95% UCL may be a more representative of
The maximum values for each field (262 mg/kg for Chapman and 120 mg/kg for Colonial) were
Table 3. Arsenic soil concentrations (Cs ) across fields/areas computed for surface soil samples (depth
95% upper confidence limit, Across all concentrations
For Equations (1)–(3), the values used can be found in Table 4. Pica ingestion rates were applied
is consistent with the 2010 U.S. EPA study (44) which found RBA values from 10% to 60%. Skin surface
for adolescents less than 21 years of age. A factor of 50% was applied to the surface area values
found ((40), Table 7-4, the fourth table in Chapter 7). The skin absorption factor for arsenic was set to
moderate intensity levels ((46), Table 7-21). Averages across age groups were matched to the 2 to 6 and
according to adult male light activity breathing rates ((40), Table 6-26). Players were assigned values
from for male’s short term high activity inhalation rates according to age group ((46), Table 7-21).
kept at its original value based on vegetative cover of 50%. However, for the scenarios that considered
on 5% vegetative cover for the infield and 85% vegetative cover for the outfield. The PEF value as
Table 5. Parameters used in the calculation of PEF.
Inverse of a Mean Concentration at Center of a 0.5-Acre Square Source
provides a conservative estimate (95% confidence limit) for increased cancer risk. Risk was computed
extremely low increased risk (10−6 ) to very high increased risk (10−1 ) (Table 6) (36).
Table 6. Interpretation of computed risk values.
Route-specific and aggregate daily dose (Table 7) across age groups for the two baseball fields
magnitude. Because of the higher concentration found at Chapman (63.4 mg/kg) relative to Colonial
were similar to those shown in Table 7 above. The LADDs computed for individual categories
than the inhalation dose across age groups (e.g., ingestion dose was close to 98% of aggregate dose for
for each age group can be also found in Table 8, and considered the scenario where an individual

Methods (brief)

DMA-dimethylarsinic acid). Arsenic is found naturally in the environment, in soils and rocks which
samples at the specific fields. All analyses were conducted by certified laboratories employing routine
risk based level for arsenic in Florida is 2.1 mg/kg, and samples collected during the initial screening
to define concentration distributions. Samples were collected in and around the baseball fields at
both parks and at different soil depths. The depth of surface samples typically corresponded to 0–5
or 0–15 cm. Sets of samples at both fields were also collected at depths from 0 to 5 cm and from
comparisons that are made. Results from the soil samples showed that concentrations in the surface
sample locations, samples were collected at Chapman Field from the baseball infield, baseball outfield,
and in areas adjacent to but outside of the ballfields. At Colonial Field samples were also collected
from areas adjacent to the ballfields. However, within the ballfields, samples at Colonial Field were
collected only from the outfield. Results show that infield samples were lowest; areas adjacent to the
ballfields were at intermediary values; and outfield samples were the highest (Table 2) (p < 0.001).
samples collected regardless of location (infield, outfield, outside ballfields).
- An additional 13 surface samples were collected for the 0–15 cm depth for Chapman. The average of these samples
was 29.6 mg/kg. These results are biased low because they were collected early during the sampling study during
surface samples collected regardless of depth (surficial, 0–5 cm, 0–15 cm).
soil depth samples. The first set of concentration values corresponded to the 95% upper confidence
four values correspond to: (a) the maximum concentration regardless of soil sample depth, (b) the

Implications

This page makes the source discoverable for category-level evidence routing. Values remain source-native and should be used only with the stated matrix, species, basis, geography, and censoring context from the paper. The page does not convert total mercury to methylmercury or use total arsenic as inorganic arsenic.

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Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Commit	Date	Change	Description
b01ec52c	2026-08-04	major	2 sections added
d49e450f	2026-08-03	major	5 sections added; narrative text revised