Abstract :
This study discusses the potential exposure of occupational workers and general consumers in the European Union
EU. to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins PCDDs. and polychlorinated dibenzofurans PCDFs. caused by exposure
to pentachlorophenol PCP. and its derivatives. A synthesis of reported exposure data relating exposure to PCP and
its derivatives in an occupational setting has indicated that the PCDDrF intake for exposure in the 1990s averaged
over a lifetime is likely to be in the order of 0.02]1 pg I-TEQ kgy1 bw dayy1 with actual exposures more likely to
occur at the lower end of the range, around the median of 0.16 pg I-TEQ kgy1 bw dayy1. Workers who have
experienced past exposure to PCP and its derivatives especially in the early to mid 1980s, will have been subjected to
higher exposures to PCDDrFs due to the generally higher concentrations of PCDDrFs in PCP products at that
time. Exposure to PCP and its derivatives via the food chain is judged to be the most significant intake route of
PCDDrFs into consumers. The ingestion of milk and dairy products obtained from cows grazed on pasture dressed
with sewage sludge has the potential to raise the average daily intake of PCDDrFs via the diet by about 40% if all
foods consumed derived from sludge amended soil. To the extent quantifiable, exposure to PCP in an occupational
setting contributed approximately 16% as a median to the overall background exposure to PCDDrFs, while for
consumers this contribution ranged from 2 to 60% depending on the exposure to sludge amended foods.
