Summary Report

for the

ATSDR Soil-Pica Workshop

June 2000, Atlanta, Georgia

Prepared for

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation
Atlanta, Georgia

Contract No. 205-95-0901

Task Order No. 29

Prepared by

Eastern Research Group

110 Hartwell Avenue

Lexington, MA 02421-3136

March 20, 2001

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Note

This report was prepared by Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), a contractor for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), as a general record of discussion for the "ATSDR Soil-pica Workshop," a workshop conducted by ATSDR. This report captures the main points of presentations and discussions among the expert panelists, but does not contain a verbatim transcript of all issues discussed during the meeting. Additionally, the report does not embellish, interpret, or enlarge upon matters that were incomplete or unclear. Except where noted, no statements in this report represent analyses or positions of ATSDR or ERG.

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• 1. Introduction
• 1.1 Background
• 1.2 The Workshop Attendees
• 1.3 Briefing the Panelists
• 1.4 The Workshop and Overview Presentations
• 1.5 Report Organization
• 2.0 Definitions
• 3.0 Topic #1: Prevalence of Soil-Pica Behavior
• 3.1 Incidental Influences on Total Soil Dust Ingestion: Dr. Natalie Freeman
• 3.2 Geophagical Clays-Extraction, Preparation, and Distribution: Dr. Don Vermeer
• 3.3 Approaches for Characterizing the Prevalence of Soil-pica
• 3.4 Prevalence of Soil-pica
• 3.5 Temporal Factors
• 3.6 Prevalence of Soil-pica Among Various Subpopulations
• 3.7 The Need for ATSDR to Consider Soil-pica Children
• 3.8 Observers' Comments and Additional Topics on the Prevalence of Soil-Pica Behavior
• 4.0 Topic #2: Ingestion Rates for Soil-Pica
• 4.1 Ingestion Rates for an Incident of Soil-pica
• 4.2 Applying Ingestion Rates to Acute, Intermediate, and Chronic Exposure
• 4.3 Ingestion Rates for Adults Who Exhibit Soil-pica Behavior
• 5.0 Topic #3: Means for Identifying Soil-Pica Behavior
• 5.1 Activities Contributing to Exposure and Ingestion of Soil/Dust: Dr. Natalie Freeman
• 5.2 Responses to Charge Questions
• 6.0 Topic #4: Additional Topics
• 7.0 Conclusions
• 8.0 References
• Appendix A: Expert Panelists
• Appendix B: Charge to the Panelists
• Appendix C: Workshop Agenda

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