Exposure of children to environmental contaminants.

U.S. EPA announced the availability of a final report title, "Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook" (EPA/600/R-06/096F), which was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within U.S. EPAs Office of Research and Development (ORD). This report updates a 2002 interim final version of the handbook. It provides updated information on various physiological and behavioral factors used in assessing children's exposure to environmental contaminants. These factors include water ingestion; soil ingestion and nondietary factors; inhalation rates; dermal factors including skin surface area and soil adherence [actors; consumption of retail and homegrown foods; breast milk intake; body weight; activity pattern data; and consumer product use. This updated version also provides analysis of exposure factors data using the age groups for children as recommended in the 2005 U.S. EPA Risk Assessment Forum report document titled, "Guidance on Selecting Age Groups for Monitoring and Assessing Childhood Exposures to Environmental Contaminants" (71 FR 6775, February 9, 2006).

www.epa.gov.ncea