Implications of behavioral teratology for assessing the risks posed by environmental and therapeutic chemicals

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the implications of behavioral teratology for assessing the risks posed by environmental and therapeutic chemicals. Neurobehavioral teratology is a discipline that is attained a crucial role in predicting the health risks of drugs and environmental chemicals. For its findings to be translated into reasonable policies, investigators must be sensitive to the ways in which toxicological data become embodied into risk assessment. To understand how toxicological findings are translated into policy decisions, consider the implications of terms such as the No Observable Effect Level (NOEL). NOEL, based on experimental animal data gathered from chronic treatment is multiplied by a neither safety nor uncertainty factor to provide an adequate margin of protection for humans. Crude behavioral assays, typically joined with high-dose toxicology, also blunt the usefulness of experimental observations. The impact of even small differences, such as changes in psychological test performance correlated with low-level lead exposure, can be seen when risk is viewed in societal rather than individual terms.