Toxicology and industrial health
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Review
Determination of a site-specific reference dose for methylmercury for fish-eating populations.
Environmental risk-management decisions in the U. S. involving potential exposures to methylmercury currently use a reference dose (RfD) developed by the U. S. ⋯ Based on the analysis described above, the distribution of acceptable daily ingestion rates (RfDs) recommended to serve as the basis for site-specific risk-management decisions at Alcoa's Point Comfort Operations ranges from approximately 0.3 to 1.1 microg/kg/day, with a population median (50th percentile) of 0.5 microg/kg/day. By analogy with USEPA guidelines for the use of percentiles in applications of distributions in exposure assessments, the 10th percentile provides a reasonably conservative measure. On this basis, a site-specific RfD of 0.4 microg/kg/day is recommended.