A MODEL FOR ESTIMATING THE DAILY DIETARY-INTAKE OF A SUBSTANCE FROM FOOD-CONTACT ARTICLES - STYRENE FROM POLYSTYRENE FOOD-CONTACT POLYMERS

An approach has been developed to estimate the exposure of consumers t o styrene from polystyrene food-contact articles which incorporates pu blished literature on the diffusion of styrene through polymeric mater ials and industry survey data on uses of polystyrene in food-contact a pplications. The approach has been shown to be quite practical and has yielded an exposure estimate of 3 ppb (9 mu g/day) styrene, on averag e, in the daily diet of people in the United States. This value compar es reasonably well with the value of 1-4 mu g/day for residents of the United Kingdom in 1983. The value is also four orders of magnitude le ss than the acceptable daily intake calculated by the Styrene Informat ion and Research Center. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.