elements of chemical risk assement

Question 1

What is risk assessment?

Answer 1

Defined as: the process of assessing the possible adverse health effects in humans resulting from exposure to substances or potential hazards.

This definition allows:
-ordering of data
-identifying data gaps
-uncertainties
-assigning priorities
-determining research needs

Question 2

what is Hazard identification?

Answer 2

HAZARD IDENTIFICATION

-Data are gathered and evaluated on the types of health injuries or diseases that might be caused by a substance and on the condition of exposure under which injury or disease is caused.

-Does the agent cause adverse effect?

-May also involve characterization of a substance within the body and the interaction with the body.

-Can be considered as qualitative risk assessment

Question 3

What is a dose-response assessment?

Answer 3

Dose response assessment
-What is the relationship between the dose of a substance and incidence of adverse effects of it in animals and subsequently in humans?

-Data is obtained from animal studies in exposed human populations

-Different dose-response relationship for each point of a substance if it induces different toxic effects or when the conditions of exposure are different

-The biologically effective dose or the concentration of a toxic substance at the target organ can be determined by pharmacokinetic or toxicokinetic studies

Question 4

Exposure assessment

Answer 4

-What exposures are currently experienced or anticipated under different conditions?

-Determining what actual contact is likely to be with a chemical or physical agent

-Could concern past or current exposures or exposures anticipated in the future.

-Critical connections between potentially harmful factors and human health effects

Question 5

Risk characterization

Answer 5

-Generally, reacquires integration of the data and analysis of the first 3 elements of risk assessment to determine whether and to what extent humans will experience and of the various types of toxicity associated with exposure to a substance.

-What is the estimated incidence and severity of the adverse effects?

-risk estimation is used to characterize risk

-Characterizing the risks that the major assumption, scientific judgements and uncertainties should be identified so that the risk estimate can be better understood.