Soil exposures calculation details

The long term (chronic) soil exposure assessment is assessed as oral exposure related to exposure to substances in soil. MCRA applies in principle the equations as used in RSExpo.

Soil exposures are generated using properties age and sex of a simulated set of individuals or, as an alternative, an existing set of individuals (currently, the dietary individual population, see module dietary exposures). Specify the reference population with option Specify individuals for generating soil exposures with settings Simulate individuals or Use dietary individuals.

Oral exposure

The calculation for oral exposure is:

\[\mathtt{E_{soil-ing}} = \frac{1}{\mathtt{BW}} \cdot \mathtt{q_s} \cdot \mathtt{c_s}\]

Parameters used in the equation

\(\mathtt{E_{soil-ing}}\) : average daily external exposure of an individual to substances by soil ingestion (\(\mu g/kg \, bw /day\))

\(\mathtt{BW}\): body weight of the individual (default in \(kg\))

\(\mathtt{q_s}\): average daily amount of soil ingested by the individual (default in \(g/day\))

\(\mathtt{c_s}\): substance concentration in soil (default in \(\mu g/g\))