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Alfred Franzblau,¹ Elizabeth Hedgeman,¹ Qixuan Chen,² Shih-Yuan Lee,² Peter Adriaens,³ Avery Demond,³ David Garabrant,¹ Brenda Gillespie,² Biling Hong,¹ Olivier Jolliet,¹ James Lepkowski,⁴ William Luksemburg,⁵ Martha Maier,⁵ and Yvan Wenger¹

¹Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and ²Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; ³Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan College of Engineering, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; ⁴Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; ⁵Vista Analytical Laboratory, El Dorado Hills, California, USA

Abstract
Context: For the general population, the dominant source of exposure to dioxin-like compounds is food. As part of the University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study (UMDES) , we measured selected polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) , polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) , and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in serum of 946 subjects who were a representative sample of the general population in five Michigan counties.

Case presentation: The total toxic equivalency (TEQ ; based on 2005 World Health Organization toxic equivalency factors) of serum from the index case was 211 ppt on a lipid-adjusted basis, which was the highest value observed in the UMDES study population. This subject had no apparent opportunity for exposure to dioxins, except that she had lived on property with soil contaminated with dioxins for almost 30 years, and had been a ceramics hobbyist for > 30 years. Soil from her property and clay that she used for ceramics were both contaminated with dioxins, but the congener patterns differed.

Discussion: The congener patterns in this subject's serum, soil, and ceramic clay suggest strongly that the dioxin contamination in clay and not soil was the dominant source of dioxin contamination in her serum.

Relevance to public health practice: It appears that ceramic clay, in particular the process of firing clay with unvented kilns, can be a significant nonfood and nonindustrial source of human exposure to dioxins among ceramics hobbyists. The extent of human exposure from ceramic clay is unclear, but it may be widespread. Further work is needed to more precisely characterize the routes of exposure.

Key words: ball clay, clay, dioxins, furans, human exposure, polychlorinated biphenyls. Environ Health Perspect 116:238–242 (2008) . doi:10.1289/ehp.10594 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 5 October 2007]

Address correspondence to A. Franzblau, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 109 South Observatory St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029 USA. Telephone: (734) 936-0758. Fax: (734) 763-8095. E-mail: afranz@umich.edu

We are grateful to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study: L. Birnbaum, P. Boffeta, R.A. Hites, D. Kleinbaum, and M. Sweeney. We also thank D. Patterson for his advice.

This research was supported by a grant from the Dow Chemical Company.

Opinions contained in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Dow Chemical Company, members of the SAB, or D. Patterson.

This research was supported by an unrestricted grant from the Dow Chemical Company.

Received 24 June 2007 ; accepted 4 October 2007.