Health Risk Assessment in Children Occupationally and Para-Occupationally Exposed to Benzene Using a Reverse-Translation PBPK Model

Kristal Pech, Norma Pérez-Herrera, Ángel Antonio Vértiz-Hernández, Martín Lajous and Paulina Farías ()
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Kristal Pech: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca 62100, Mexico
Norma Pérez-Herrera: Laboratorio de Enfermedades Crónicas y Degenerativas, Unidad Interinstitucional de Investigación Clínica y Epidemiológica, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida 97000, Mexico
Ángel Antonio Vértiz-Hernández: Coordinación Académica Regional Altiplano, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí 78300, Mexico
Martín Lajous: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca 62100, Mexico
Paulina Farías: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca 62100, Mexico

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Benzene is a known human carcinogen and one of the ten chemicals of major public health concern identified by the World Health Organization. Our objective was to evaluate benzene’s carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks (current and projected) in highly exposed children in Yucatan, Mexico. Benzene exposure was estimated through a reverse-translation, four-compartment, physiologically based pharmacokinetic model (PBPK) based on previously performed urine trans, trans-muconic acid (benzene metabolite) determinations. Using a risk assessment methodology, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks of benzene were estimated for 6–12-year-old children from a family of shoemakers. The children’s hazard quotients for decreased lymphocyte count were 27 and 53 for 4 and 8 h/day exposure, respectively, and 37 for the projected 8 h/day exposure in adults. The risks of developing leukemia were 2–6 cases in 1000 children exposed 4 h/day; 4–10 cases in 1000 children exposed 8 h/day, and 2–9 cases in 1000 adults with an 8 h/day lifetime exposure. Children in Yucatan working in shoe-manufacturing workshops, or living next to them, are exposed to benzene concentrations above the reference concentration and have unacceptably high risks of presenting with non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic hematologic symptoms, now and in the future. Interventions to prevent further exposure and mitigate health risks are necessary.

Keywords: risk assessment; PBPK; children; benzene; leukemia; lymphopenia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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