Title: Metals in the environment: design of HRA Heavy Metals, an online system for assessing human health risks

Authors: Nuria Ferre-Huguet, Marta Schuhmacher, Marti Nadal, Jose L. Domingo

Addresses: Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Catalonia, Spain. ' Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Catalonia, Spain. ' Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Catalonia, Spain. ' Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Catalonia, Spain

Abstract: HRA Heavy Metals is a program designed for Health Risk Assessment (HRA) by determining human exposure to environmental metals for a specific subject. This online program is used to establish if the presence of metals in the area where the individual inhabits exceeds the safety limits established by the current legislation. The use of HRA Heavy Metals requires information on metal concentrations in tap water, superficial soils and air, corresponding to each particular subject. This paper describes in detail the basis of the program and its operation.

Keywords: heavy metals; soil pollution; air pollution; water pollution; human exposure; health risks; online systems; human health; health risk assessment; environmental pollution; tap water; superficial soils.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENVH.2010.037500

International Journal of Environment and Health, 2010 Vol.4 No.4, pp.355 - 368

Received: 17 Apr 2010
Accepted: 16 Jul 2010
Published online: 14 Dec 2010 *

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