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Household Exposure Study
Because people spend a lot of their time at home, household environments are an important source of chemical exposures. The many chemicals in building materials and household products coupled with limited ventilation and slow chemical degradation indoors (away from sun, water, and temperature extremes) mean that indoor chemical concentrations are higher than levels outdoors. Despite their potential as an important source of exposure, we know very little about indoor contaminants. To begin to understand the role these contaminants may have for research on breast cancer, Silent Spring Institute scientists are investigating women's household exposure to a broad suite of organic chemicals, identified as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) or mammary carcinogens that are important for breast cancer research.
The chemicals targeted for analysis included phthalates, alkylphenols, pesticides, parabens, polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and other estrogenic phenols such as bisphenol A. These chemicals are found in commercial products or building materials. Researchers collected samples of household air and dust and studied participants' urine samples from 120 homes in the Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environment Study. We also collected detailed information about each woman's home and her use of products containing target chemicals. We also studied activities related to exposure, including wide-area pesticide exposure estimates using GIS.
Fact sheet about Household
Exposure Study results
“Are U.S.
Homes a Haven for Toxins?”
Feature article about the Household
Exposure Study in Environmental Science and Technology
“Phthalates, Alkylphenols,
Pesticides, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Other Endocrine Disrupting
Compounds in Indoor Air and Dust”
Results of the Household Exposure Study published in the journal of the American
Chemical Society, Environmental Science and Technology, Rudel et al., October
2003.
Sources of chemicals in the
Household Exposure Study
We reported the overall results of the study in public forums on Cape Cod.
Participants' identities always remain confidential; we never present information
to the public that could be linked to an individual. We reported individual
study results to participants who requested them. Participants were invited
to telephone a Silent Spring Institute researcher if they had questions or
wanted more information. Click
here to view a sample of the report-back materials; all identifying
information has been removed.
Click here for links to media coverage of the
Household Exposure Study.
Collaborators on the Household Exposure Study include the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control (urine analysis), Southwest Research Institute (air
and dust chemical analysis), and John D. Spengler at the Harvard School
of Public Health (air and dust sampling methods). In collaboration with
Brown University and Communities for a Better Environment, the Household
Exposure Study is being extended to two communities in California as part
of our environmental justice work.