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Dermal uptake of chloroform and haloketones during bathing

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 15, pages 289–296 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Dermal contact with some organic disinfection by-products (DBPs) such as trihalomethanes in chlorinated drinking water has been established to be an important exposure route. We evaluated dermal absorption of two haloketones (1,1-dichloropropanone and 1,1,1-trichloropropanone) and chloroform while bathing, by collecting and analyzing time profiles of expired breath samples of six human subjects during and following a 30-min bath. The DBP concentrations in breath increased towards a maximum concentration during bathing. The maximum haloketone breath concentration during dermal exposure ranged from 0.1 to 0.9 μg / m3, which was approximately two orders of magnitude lower than the maximum chloroform breath concentration during exposure. Based on a one-compartment model, the in vivo permeability of chloroform, 1,1-dichloropropanone, and 1,1,1-trichloropropanone were approximated to be 0.015, 7.5 × 10− 4, and 4.5 × 10− 4 cm / h, respectively. Thus, haloketones are much less permeable across human skin under normal bathing conditions than is chloroform. These findings will be useful for future assessment of total human exposure and consequent health risk of these DBPs.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Research Foundation (#GR825953-01-0). This presentation has not been subjected to the Agency's review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency. Clifford P. Weisel is supported in part by the NIEHS Center for Excellence Grant (ES05022-06).

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  1. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersy, USA

    Xu Xu & Clifford P Weisel

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Correspondence to Clifford P Weisel.

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Xu, X., Weisel, C. Dermal uptake of chloroform and haloketones during bathing. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 15, 289–296 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500404

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