Risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals: the case of mycotoxins exposure

• Autor(a) principal: Viegas, Susana
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Viegas, Carla, Ramos, Carla, Silva, Marina, Sabino, Raquel, Veríssimo, Cristina, Rosado, Laura
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/11325
• topic: Occupational health; Occupational exposure; Exposure to mixtures; Mycotoxins; Risk assessment; Weight-of-evidence classification; Toxicological interaction

Background: It is well established that people are exposed to a diverse and dynamic mixture of chemicals as a routine part of their existence, and there is clear evidence that toxicity can be modified by simultaneous or sequential exposure to multiple chemicals. Nevertheless, risk assessments have focused mainly on exposure to individual chemicals in a specific environment via a single route or pathway. It has repeatedly been demonstrated that Aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A belong to the most frequently occurring mycotoxins. However, only just recently, the risk resulting from their simultaneous occurrence could be assessed due to new information about their combined biological effects. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was developed to monitor air fungal contamination in 10 hospital food units. Five air samples of 250 liters through the impaction method were collected in food storage facilities, kitchen, food plating, canteen and also, outside premises since this was the place regarded as reference. Results and Discussion: Besides other fungal species, in one of the food units, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus ochraceus were isolated. After that, weight-of-evidence classification based in the work developed by Mumtaz & Durkin (1992) was applied to qualitative assess the weight of evidence for the interaction between aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A and it was possible to conclude that this interaction is likely to have relevance to potential human health effects. Conclusions: Limits for mycotoxins human exposure only consider the effects of each toxin by itself and do not take into consideration their combined effects. It is, therefore, necessary to revise it to permit performing more accurate risk assessments.