Adult responses to a survey of soil contact-related behaviors.

Protocols used to assess human exposure to chemicals in soils at contaminated sites often include a dermal pathway. Use of default parameters to assess dermal exposure to soil can easily lead to risk projections that appear to warrant remedial action. However, because those default parameters are typically highly uncertain, risk estimates based upon them inspire little confidence. To better characterize assumptions regarding dermal exposures, a telephone survey instrument was developed to elicit information on behaviors relevant to assessment of dermal contact with soil and dust. Participation in four activities--gardening, other yard work, outdoor team sports, and home construction or repair involving digging--was investigated. Questions were also asked regarding clothing choices and post-activity bathing practices. The survey was administered to two populations of approximately 450 adult respondents each using random digit dialing. The first was a national (U.S.) sample. The second sample was drawn from counties surrounding the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Seventy-nine percent of the regional respondents and 89% of the national respondents reported participating in at least one of the four targeted activities. Responses of doers regarding clothing choices suggest that median fractions of skin exposed during warm-weather activities typically exceed the 25% often assumed. The Hanford sample differed from the national sample in the fraction residing in single-family homes, the fraction describing their residential surroundings as rural, and in ethnic makeup. The Hanford population displayed greater rates of participation than the national sample in three activities that have an obvious link to residence in a single-family dwelling: home repair involving digging, gardening, and other yard work, but differences were not explained entirely by residence type. The regional population also reported greater frequency of participation in multiple activities. In contrast, clothing choices among doers could not be distinguished between the two groups.

Adult proxy responses to a survey of children's dermal soil contact activities.

Contaminated site cleanup decisions may require estimation of dermal exposures to soil. Telephone surveys represent one means of obtaining relevant activity pattern data. The initial Soil Contact Survey (SCS-I), which primarily gathered information on the activities of adults, was conducted in 1996. Data describing adult behaviors have been previously reported. Results from a second Soil Contact Survey (SCS-II), performed in 1998-1999 and focused on children's activity patterns, are reported here. Telephone surveys were used to query a randomly selected sample of U.S. households. A randomly chosen child, under the age of 18 years, was targeted in each responding household having children. Play activities as well as bathing patterns were investigated to quantify total exposure time, defined as activity time plus delay until washing. Of 680 total survey respondents, 500 (73.5%) reported that their child played outdoors on bare dirt or mixed grass and dirt surfaces. Among these "players," the median reported play frequency was 7 days/week in warm weather and 3 days/week in cold weather. Median play duration was 3 h/day in warm weather and 1 h/day in cold weather. Hand washes were reported to occur a median of 4 times per day in both warm and cold weather months. Bath or shower median frequency was seven times per week in both warm and cold weather. Finally, based on clothing choice data gathered in SCS-I, a median of about 37% of total skin surface is estimated to be exposed during young children's warm weather outdoor play.