Field Evaluation of Screening Techniques for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, 2,4-Diphenoxyacetic Acid, and Pentachlorophenol in Air, House Dust, Soil, And Total Diet

The objectives of this work assignment were to evaluate ELISA screening methods and determine whether these methods indicate effectively those microenvironments where high exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) or other semivolatile organic compounds (SVOC) is likely. Four commercially available assay kits for PAH, carcinogenic PAH (C-PAH), 2,4-D, and pentachlorophenol (PCP) were evaluated. The testing procedures were refined based on the evaluation results. The overall method precision and assay precision of each ELISA testing method were determined. The dust/ soil samples as well as sample extracts of air and food samples collected from 13 low-income homes in the summer of 1995 were analyzed by PAH and C-PAH assays. These sample extracts were also analyzed by gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to determine alkyl PAH and phthalates. The dust/soil samples from 13 low-income homes collected during the spring of 1996 were analyzed by PAH, C-PAH, 2,4-D, and PCP assays. Different aliquots of these samples were analyzed by conventional (GC/MS) methods for PAH and by GC with electron capture detection (GC/ECD) for 2,4-D and PCP. The ELISA data were compared with GC/MS data or GC/ECD data. For PAH measurements, there is no strong relationship between the ELISA results and GC/MS results when data of similar types of samples were combined from different field studies. The ELISA data (C-PAH) and GC/MS (B2 PAH) data showed stronger relationships for dust/soil collected from 22 NHEXAS homes. The ELISA screening for PAH can indicate the likely presence of high levels of PAH in dust/soil samples. There is a positive but weak relationship between GC/ECD data and ELISA data for 2,4-D and PCP. This Project Summary was developed by EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, NC, to announce key findings of the research project that is fully documented in a separate report of the same title (see Project Report ordering information at back).