9.02 - Assessing Risks to Human Health

Abstract

Assessing risks to human health from exposure to chemicals can be done on many levels depending on the particular problem formulation or specific risk management issue of concern (e.g., from screening level to comprehensive assessments). The basis for these assessments is the risk assessment paradigm developed by the National Academy of Sciences (1983, 2009). This paradigm has four steps: hazard identification, dose–response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Each of the first three steps melds often a wealth of data into a more understandable form; the fourth step, risk characterization, integrates information from the former three into a more useable form, depending on the problem formulation. Risk management and risk communication use information from the risk characterization and are important aspects of risk assessment, of which the NAS has also published guidance.