Relationship Between Toxicity Values for the Military Population and Toxicity Values for the General Population

• Main Authors: Crosier, Ronald B, Sommerville, Douglas R
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: ARMY PERSONNEL; CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS; Chemical, Biological and Radiological Warfare; ESTIMATES; INHALATION; LETHALITY; MALES; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; MILITARY PERSONNEL; NERVE AGENTS; POPULATION; RISK ASSESSMENT; SENSITIVITY; SLOPE; TAIL ASSEMBLIES; THRESHOLD EFFECTS; TOXICITY; UNCERTAINTY; VALUE

The present chemical warfare agent toxicity estimates are not suitable for use With the general population (GP) because they are framed for male soldiers. A method was created to convert the median effective dose and Bliss slope to estimates applicable to the GP. It was assumed that individual susceptibilities have a log-normal distribution. Two mathematical models were developed to describe a healthy or sensitive subpopulation (SP). In the tail model, the SP consists of all individuals having susceptibilities within a tail of the GP distribution. In the bell model, the SP has a lognormal distribution. The median and the Bliss slope of an SP were determined as a function of the SP size. The two models gave similar results. Historical military demographics were used to estimate the size of the healthy SP from which military personnel are drawn. Uncertainty factors were obtained from the tail and bell models. Uncertainty factors from both models were consistent with the results of two previous studies that quantified differences between populations. Based on our analysis, revisions are required in the intraspecies uncertainty factors used in establishing proposed acute exposure guideline levels for threshold lethality due to inhalation of nerve agents. DOE Technical Point of Contact: Sandia Corporation dba Sandia National Laboratories, ATTN: John E. Brockmann, Mail Stop 0836, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM.