Bioaccessibility of Mercury in Soils

The initial risk assessment for the East Fork Poplar Creek (EFPC) floodplain in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a superfund site heavily contaminated with mercury, was based on a reference dose for mercuric chloride. Mercuric chloride, however, is a soluble mercury compound not expected to be present in the floodplain, which is frequently saturated with water. Previous investigations had suggested mercury in the EFPC floodplain was less soluble and therefore potentially less bioavailable than mercuric chloride, possibly making the results of the risk assessment unduly conservative. A bioaccessibility study, designed to measure the amount of mercury available for absorption in a child's digestive tract (the most critical risk pathway endpoint), was performed on 20 soils from the EFPC floodplain. The average bioac-cessible mercury for the 20 soils was 5.3%, compared with 100% of the mercuric chloride subjected to the same conditions. The alteration of the procedure to more closely mimic conditions in the digestive tract did not significantly change the results. Therefore, the use of a reference dose for mercuric chloride at EFPC, and potentially at other mercury-contaminated sites, without incorporating a corresponding bioavailability adjustment factor may overestimate the risk posed by the site.