Human health risk assessment for contaminated sites: A retrospective review

• Published in: Environment international 2023-01, Vol.171, p.107700, Article 107700
• Main Authors: Zhang, Shuai, Han, Yingyue, Peng, Jingyu, Chen, Yunmin, Zhan, Liangtong, Li, Jinlong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Contaminated sites; Dose-response assessment; Exposure assessment; Fate and transport model; Hazard identification; Human Health Risk Assessment; Humans; Retrospective Studies; Risk Assessment - methods; Soil; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Soil Pollutants - toxicity
• ISSN: 0160-4120; 1873-6750
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107700

[Display omitted] •Approaches and models in Human Health Risk Assessment are comprehensively reviewed.•Method on the mechanisms of contaminant actions on human health hazards is needed.•Integration and update of existing toxicity databases are necessary.•Lack of health-based screening values is a barrier to biomonitoring.•The integration of fate and transport models and risk assessment systems is essential. Soil contamination is a serious global hazard as contaminants can migrate to the human body through the soil, water, air, and food, threatening human health. Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) is a commonly used method for estimating the magnitude and probability of adverse health effects in humans that may be exposed to contaminants in contaminated environmental media in the present or future. Such estimations have improved for decades with various risk assessment frameworks and well-established models. However, the existing literature does not provide a comprehensive overview of the methods and models of HHRA that are needed to grasp the current status of HHRA and future research directions. Thus, this paper aims to systematically review the HHRA approaches and models, particularly those related to contaminated sites from peer-reviewed literature and guidelines. The approaches and models focus on methods used in hazard identification, toxicity databases in dose–response assessment, approaches and fate and transport models in exposure assessment, risk characterization, and uncertainty characterization. The features and applicability of the most commonly used HHRA tools are also described. The future research trend for HHRA for contaminated sites is also forecasted. The transition from animal experiments to new methods in risk identification, the integration and update and sharing of existing toxicity databases, the integration of human biomonitoring into the risk assessment process, and the integration of migration and transformation models and risk assessment are the way forward for risk assessment in the future. This review provides readers with an overall understanding of HHRA and a grasp of its developmental direction.