PHARMACOKINETIC MODEL OF DIOXIN AND FURAN LEVELS IN ADIPOSE-TISSUE FROM SAWMILL WORK INVOLVING CHLOROPHENATE FUNGICIDES

Sawmill workers in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, have been exposed to chlorophenate fungicides which are known to be contaminated with po lychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofur ans (PCDFs). Due to concern about the potential of these workers to ha ve significant body burdens of PCDD/Fs, and the absence of measurement s in these workers, a single-compartment pharmacokinetic model was dev eloped to estimate the concentration of PCDD/Fs in the fat tissue of t he sawmill workers. Data from a large cohort of B.C. sawmill workers a nd literature-based data on chlorophenate exposures and PCDD/F concent rations in chlorophenates were used in Monte Carlo simulations to pred ict a PCDD/F body burden distribution. The median concentrations of Hx CDF and HpCDF predicted using the model for the B.C. sawmill worker po pulation exceeded the range measured in unexposed populations. PeCDF a nd OCDF concentrations exceeded the range measured in unexposed popula tions at the 70th percentile of the model-predicted distribution, and PeCDD at the 90th percentile. The primary limitation of the model was the scarcity of input data about actual dermal and inhalation exposure s to chlorophenates. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd