“That means, of course, that the availability of scientific information is fundamental to our ability to understand risk, and it is also fundamental to our ability to manage those risks.”Ī good place to start in understanding the challenge facing the country is to get a sense of just how many chemicals are produced and used in society. “There are many individual issues that can cause variability in responses to chemicals,” she said. Exposure may depend on various susceptibility factors such as age and stage of development, gender, genetics, nutrition, and comorbidities. Hazardousness is the ability of a chemical to actually cause harm at various dosage levels, Goldman said, while exposure is the amount of dose that might be received at target tissue after contact. Goldman expanded on two of these components, hazard and exposure. The Red Book describes four steps for risk assessment: (1) hazard identification, (2) dose–response assessment, (3) exposure assessment, and (4) risk characterization. “Indeed, all of these topics that we have before us today were topics that were before the EPA at that time.” She noted that chemicals regulation is a very difficult and complex area but for years it has been clear that the EPA has been unable to make adequate progress under existing requirements.Ī fundamental notion in dealing with chemical hazards is risk, a concept that has been promulgated extensively by the National Academies, beginning with the 1983 publication Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process ( NRC, 1983), known as the Red Book. Twenty years ago she had joined the EPA, where she was responsible for the chemical and pesticide regulatory programs and the concerns then were very similar to those today. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), began by offering some historical context. Goldman, Dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Former Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances at the U.S. To set the stage for the rest of the workshop, several presenters spoke about the challenge of chemicals in today's society and general approaches to dealing with chemical risk.
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