Profile of Environmental Chemicals in the Korean Population—Results of the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) Cycle 3, 2015–2017

Sun Kyoung Jung, Wookhee Choi, Sung Yeon Kim, Sooyeon Hong, Hye Li Jeon, Youngkyung Joo, Chulwoo Lee, Kyungho Choi, Sungkyoon Kim, Kee-Jae Lee and Jiyoung Yoo
Additional contact information
Sun Kyoung Jung: Environmental Health Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Environment, Incheon 22689, Korea
Wookhee Choi: Monitoring and Analysis Division, Wonju Regional Environmental Office, Ministry of Environment, Wonju 26461, Korea
Sung Yeon Kim: Environmental Health Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Environment, Incheon 22689, Korea
Sooyeon Hong: Environmental Health Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Environment, Incheon 22689, Korea
Hye Li Jeon: Environmental Health Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Environment, Incheon 22689, Korea
Youngkyung Joo: Environmental Health Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Environment, Incheon 22689, Korea
Chulwoo Lee: Environmental Health Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Environment, Incheon 22689, Korea
Kyungho Choi: Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Sungkyoon Kim: Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Kee-Jae Lee: Department of Information Statistics and Data Science, College of Natural Science, Korea National Open University, Seoul 03087, Korea
Jiyoung Yoo: Environmental Health Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Environment, Incheon 22689, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: The Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) program provides useful information on chemical exposure, serves as the basis for environmental health policies, and suggests appropriate measures to protect public health. Initiated on a three-year cycle in 2009, it reports the concentrations of major environmental chemicals among the representative Korean population. KoNEHS Cycle 3 introduced children and adolescents into the analysis, where the blood and urine samples of 6167 participants were measured for major metals, phthalates, phenolics, and other organic compounds. Lead, mercury, cadmium, metabolites of DEHP and DnBP, and 3-phenoxybenzoic acid levels of the Korean adult population tended to decrease compared to previous survey cycles but remained higher than those observed in the US or Canada. Both bisphenol A (BPA) and trans,trans -muconic acid concentrations have increased over time. Heavy metal concentrations (blood lead, and cadmium) in children and adolescents were approximately half that of adults, while some organic substances (e.g., phthalates and BPA) were high. BPA showed higher levels than in the US or Canada, whereas BPF and BPS showed lower detection rates in this cycle; however, as these are increasingly used as a substitute for BPA, further research is necessary. As environmental chemicals may affect childhood health and development, additional analyses should assess exposure sources and routes through continuous observations.

Keywords: children and adolescents; environmental chemicals; KoNEHS; national biomonitoring; temporal trend (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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