Chemical Risk Assessment: Traditional vs Public Health Perspectives

• DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2017.303771
• Publication Date: 2017-05-18T19:53:33Z
• Authors: Maureen R. Gwinn; Daniel A. Axelrad; Tina Bahadori; David Bussard; Wayne E. Cascio; Kacee Deener; David Dix; Russell S. Thomas; Robert J. Kavlock; Thomas A. Burke
• Keywords: Exposure Assessment

Preventing adverse health effects of environmental chemical exposure is fundamental to protecting individual and public health. When done efficiently properly, risk assessment enables management actions that minimize the incidence environmentally induced diseases related exposure. However, traditional faced with multiple challenges respect predicting preventing disease in human populations, epidemiological studies increasingly report observations at levels predicted from animal be safe for humans. This discordance reinforces concerns about adequacy contemporary practices It becoming clear protect more effectively, future assessments will need use full range available data, draw on innovative methods integrate diverse data streams, consider endpoints also reflect subtle morbidities observed populations. Considering these factors, there a reframe clearly aligned goal minimizing exposures associated disease.