Uncertainty and Data Quality in Exposure Assessment

Uncertainty and Data Quality in Exposure Assessment PDF Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
ISBN: 9241563761
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Assessment of human exposure to chemicals is a critical input to risk assessment and ultimately to decisions about control of chemicals. This two-part publication aims to improve the quality of information available to decision-makers and its communication. Part one sets out ten principles for characterizing and communicating uncertainty in exposure assessment. A tiered approach to the evaluation of uncertainties using both qualitative (simple) and quantitative (more complex) methods is described. Different sources of uncertainty are identified and guidance is provided on selecting the appropriate approach to uncertainty analysis as dictated by the objectives of the assessment and information needs of decision-makers and stakeholders. Part two addresses the quality of data used in exposure assessment and sets out four basic hallmarks of data quality - appropriateness accuracy integrity and transparency. These hallmarks provides a common vocabulary and set of qualitative criteria for use in the design evaluation and use of exposure assessments to support decisions. This publication is intended exposure assessors risk assessors and decision-makers.

Uncertainty and Data Quality in Exposure Assessment

Uncertainty and Data Quality in Exposure Assessment PDF Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
ISBN: 9241563761
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 175

Get Book Here

Book Description
Assessment of human exposure to chemicals is a critical input to risk assessment and ultimately to decisions about control of chemicals. This two-part publication aims to improve the quality of information available to decision-makers and its communication. Part one sets out ten principles for characterizing and communicating uncertainty in exposure assessment. A tiered approach to the evaluation of uncertainties using both qualitative (simple) and quantitative (more complex) methods is described. Different sources of uncertainty are identified and guidance is provided on selecting the appropriate approach to uncertainty analysis as dictated by the objectives of the assessment and information needs of decision-makers and stakeholders. Part two addresses the quality of data used in exposure assessment and sets out four basic hallmarks of data quality - appropriateness accuracy integrity and transparency. These hallmarks provides a common vocabulary and set of qualitative criteria for use in the design evaluation and use of exposure assessments to support decisions. This publication is intended exposure assessors risk assessors and decision-makers.

Science and Judgment in Risk Assessment

Science and Judgment in Risk Assessment PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030904894X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 668

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Book Description
The public depends on competent risk assessment from the federal government and the scientific community to grapple with the threat of pollution. When risk reports turn out to be overblownâ€"or when risks are overlookedâ€"public skepticism abounds. This comprehensive and readable book explores how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can improve its risk assessment practices, with a focus on implementation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. With a wealth of detailed information, pertinent examples, and revealing analysis, the volume explores the "default option" and other basic concepts. It offers two views of EPA operations: The first examines how EPA currently assesses exposure to hazardous air pollutants, evaluates the toxicity of a substance, and characterizes the risk to the public. The second, more holistic, view explores how EPA can improve in several critical areas of risk assessment by focusing on cross-cutting themes and incorporating more scientific judgment. This comprehensive volume will be important to the EPA and other agencies, risk managers, environmental advocates, scientists, faculty, students, and concerned individuals.

Risk Assessment in the Federal Government

Risk Assessment in the Federal Government PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309033497
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
The regulation of potentially hazardous substances has become a controversial issue. This volume evaluates past efforts to develop and use risk assessment guidelines, reviews the experience of regulatory agencies with different administrative arrangements for risk assessment, and evaluates various proposals to modify procedures. The book's conclusions and recommendations can be applied across the entire field of environmental health.

Exposure Science in the 21st Century

Exposure Science in the 21st Century PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309264685
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
From the use of personal products to our consumption of food, water, and air, people are exposed to a wide array of agents each day-many with the potential to affect health. Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy investigates the contact of humans or other organisms with those agents (that is, chemical, physical, and biologic stressors) and their fate in living systems. The concept of exposure science has been instrumental in helping us understand how stressors affect human and ecosystem health, and in efforts to prevent or reduce contact with harmful stressors. In this way exposure science has played an integral role in many areas of environmental health, and can help meet growing needs in environmental regulation, urban and ecosystem planning, and disaster management. Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy explains that there are increasing demands for exposure science information, for example to meet needs for data on the thousands of chemicals introduced into the market each year, and to better understand the health effects of prolonged low-level exposure to stressors. Recent advances in tools and technologies-including sensor systems, analytic methods, molecular technologies, computational tools, and bioinformatics-have provided the potential for more accurate and comprehensive exposure science data than ever before. This report also provides a roadmap to take advantage of the technologic innovations and strategic collaborations to move exposure science into the future.

Indoor Allergens

Indoor Allergens PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309048311
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
More than 50 million Americans, one out of five, suffer from hay fever, asthma, and other allergic diseases. Many of these conditions are caused by exposure to allergens in indoor environments such as the house, work, and schoolâ€"where we spend as much as 98 percent of our time. Developed by medical, public health, and engineering professionals working together, this unique volume summarizes what is known about indoor allergens, how they affect human health, the magnitude of their effect on various populations, and how they can be controlled. The book addresses controversies, recommends research directions, and suggests how to assist and educate allergy patients, as well as professionals. Indoor Allergens presents a wealth of information about common indoor allergens and their varying effects, from significant hay fever to life-threatening asthma. The volume discusses sources of allergens, from fungi and dust mites to allergenic chemicals, plants, and animals, and examines practical measures for their control. Indoor Allergens discusses how the human airway and immune system respond to inhaled allergens and assesses patient testing methods, covering the importance of the patient's medical history and outlining procedures and approaches to interpretation for skin tests, in vitro diagnostic tests, and tests of patients' pulmonary function. This comprehensive and practical volume will be important to allergists and other health care providers; public health professionals; specialists in building design, construction, and maintenance; faculty and students in public health; and interested allergy patients.

Issues in Risk Assessment

Issues in Risk Assessment PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309047862
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
The scientific basis, inference assumptions, regulatory uses, and research needs in risk assessment are considered in this two-part volume. The first part, Use of Maximum Tolerated Dose in Animal Bioassays for Carcinogenicity, focuses on whether the maximum tolerated dose should continue to be used in carcinogenesis bioassays. The committee considers several options for modifying current bioassay procedures. The second part, Two-Stage Models of Carcinogenesis, stems from efforts to identify improved means of cancer risk assessment that have resulted in the development of a mathematical dose-response model based on a paradigm for the biologic phenomena thought to be associated with carcinogenesis.

Residential Exposure Assessment

Residential Exposure Assessment PDF Author: Jeffrey Driver
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461512794
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Residential Exposure Assessment: A Source Book is the result of a multiyear effort known as the Residential Exposure Assessment Project (REAP) which was initiated by the Society for Risk Analysis and the International Society of Exposure Analysis. This textbook is the primary product of the REAP and it contains contributions from over 30 professionals from a variety of disciplines such as chemistry, biology, physics, engi neering, industrial hygiene, toxicology, pharmacology, and environmental law, reflecting the diverse knowledge and resources necessary to assess and manage potential exposures occurring in and around the home. Expert working groups were organized for each of the 13 chapters to address such issues as U. S. legislation relevant to products used in and around the residence, methods for measuring and modeling exposures across multiple pathways and routes, and distributional data available for key residential exposure factors. This volume is a compendium of information about predictive methods and tools, monitoring methods, data sources, and key variables that characterize exposures in the residential setting. It presents approaches for doing exposure assessments in and around all types of residences. The purpose of the Source Book is to provide a resource for use in educational programs and for "practitioners" of residential exposure assessment. Accordingly, this book is intended for risk assessors, exposure assessors, students, initi ates new to the concept of risk assessment, industrial hygienists assessing health hazards in the home, engineers, and monitoring specialists.

Probabilistic Techniques in Exposure Assessment

Probabilistic Techniques in Exposure Assessment PDF Author: Alison C. Cullen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780306459573
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
In this text, experts provide a complete sourcebook on methods for addressing variability and uncertainty in exposure analysis.

Science and Decisions

Science and Decisions PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309120462
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
Risk assessment has become a dominant public policy tool for making choices, based on limited resources, to protect public health and the environment. It has been instrumental to the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as other federal agencies in evaluating public health concerns, informing regulatory and technological decisions, prioritizing research needs and funding, and in developing approaches for cost-benefit analysis. However, risk assessment is at a crossroads. Despite advances in the field, risk assessment faces a number of significant challenges including lengthy delays in making complex decisions; lack of data leading to significant uncertainty in risk assessments; and many chemicals in the marketplace that have not been evaluated and emerging agents requiring assessment. Science and Decisions makes practical scientific and technical recommendations to address these challenges. This book is a complement to the widely used 1983 National Academies book, Risk Assessment in the Federal Government (also known as the Red Book). The earlier book established a framework for the concepts and conduct of risk assessment that has been adopted by numerous expert committees, regulatory agencies, and public health institutions. The new book embeds these concepts within a broader framework for risk-based decision-making. Together, these are essential references for those working in the regulatory and public health fields.

Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty

Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309290236
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of several federal agencies responsible for protecting Americans against significant risks to human health and the environment. As part of that mission, EPA estimates the nature, magnitude, and likelihood of risks to human health and the environment; identifies the potential regulatory actions that will mitigate those risks and protect public health1 and the environment; and uses that information to decide on appropriate regulatory action. Uncertainties, both qualitative and quantitative, in the data and analyses on which these decisions are based enter into the process at each step. As a result, the informed identification and use of the uncertainties inherent in the process is an essential feature of environmental decision making. EPA requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convene a committee to provide guidance to its decision makers and their partners in states and localities on approaches to managing risk in different contexts when uncertainty is present. It also sought guidance on how information on uncertainty should be presented to help risk managers make sound decisions and to increase transparency in its communications with the public about those decisions. Given that its charge is not limited to human health risk assessment and includes broad questions about managing risks and decision making, in this report the committee examines the analysis of uncertainty in those other areas in addition to human health risks. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty explains the statement of task and summarizes the findings of the committee.