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The DEARS and the WOEAS: Why Studies Like These are So Important to Exposure Science. An Introduction to This Session.
Ron Williams1 and Amanda Wheeler2
1U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27711, USA
2Health Canada, Ottawa, Canada, Ontario, K1A OK9
Introduction
The Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS- (www.epa.gov/dears)) and the Windsor Ontario Exposure Assessment Study (WOEAS) represent recent examples of multi-season, multi-pollutant, repeated measure human exposure panel studies extending over significant time periods. Both studies involved large expenditures of both human and capital resources and had complex study designs. Their respective study designs required data collections across community, residential and personal settings. Data collections involving environmental measures as well as survey information pertaining to human time activity patterns and environmental factors needed to be collected. Why are such studies needed? What is their purpose? How can these and related studies help the progression of exposure science? These studies provide related health research and modeling studies with first order data that can be utilized instead of estimated second or third order data captured using spatial measurements of pollutant concentrations. This session overview will provide examples from both studies that showcase the value and critical need for such efforts and how they have provided the framework for collaborations that extended their value far beyond their original purposes. The symposium session will examine individual aspects of the DEARS, WOEAS, and the associated studies, and report upon the value of repeated measure human exposure panel studies relative to the critical issue of uncertainty in exposure estimation.
Although this work was reviewed by EPA and approved for publication, it may not necessarily reflect official Agency policy.