Question

You are employed by the State Department of Environmental Protection in risk communication. You are scheduled to attend a town hall meeting in a local community where the topic of discussion will be the recent release of HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM also known as CHROMIUM VI into the community’s groundwater by a chemical plant. The majority of citizens in this community obtain their drinking water form groundwater wells. In preparation for the town hall meeting, you have been asked to prepare a brief write-up describing the risk to human health of this compound so that it can be distributed to the very concerned citizens of the community. To prepare your write-up, please go to http://www.epa.gov/IRIS/ and search the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System for CHROMIUM VI (there is a search box at the top of the homepage). Review the information provided on CHROMIUM VI and prepare your summary based on the information contained in IRIS. Your write-up should include information about symptoms of exposure, typical routes of exposure, the reference dose and its significance, risk of exposure (several values will be included and discussed in IRIS, chose one that seems most appropriate for your scenario). Include any additional information that would be of use to the community as well as a discussion of the uncertainties associated with the data. Please use layman’s terms as this document will be distributed to the general public who may not have any scientific background or knowledge of chemistry or risk assessment.

Answer 1

Hexavalent Chromium has been widely used in the Chrome plating of metals as a pigment in dye ,Pigments and in the tannery industry.

It is often released into the enviornment Following the disposal of Chromium based materials or its by - ptoducts. EPA had discovered that this Chromium can cause Cancer in human beings when it is exposed to breathe , but little information has educed that It causes Cancer when ingested . It also affects Fertility rate , central nervous system.

In September 2010 EPA released an IRIS assessment In that Chromius (VI) was there ( Now it is completed)

IRIS advanced search was using filters for organ system used to derive the inhalation unit risk .