Toxicology and Pharmacology

Toxicology and Risk Assessment

Risk assessment includes the characterization of the uncertainties inherent in the process of inferring risk. Toxicology data helps to determine the risk of exposure to certain chemicals. The practices of risk assessment are used to assess the related health risks to provide a scientific basis for regulatory standards development and risk management decision making for human health protection. The presence of chemicals in our environment is a subject of deep interest owing to the many potential adverse health effects to humans following exposure to these chemicals. The validity of an estimation of risk derived from a risk assessment depends greatly on the quality and accuracy of data. Where data do not exist or are contradictory, regulatory agencies are required to rely on default values, uncertainty factors, and modeling approaches to fill in the blanks. These defaults and extrapolations introduce uncertainty into the risk estimates. New methodologies and testing methods could fill key data gaps, clarify data inconsistencies, or otherwise reduce uncertainty. If applied appropriately, these approaches have the potential to improve the accuracy and scientific credibility of regulatory decision making. Human health risk assessment is the process of investigating information to determine whether an environmental hazard might cause harm to exposed persons. The risk-assessment process incorporates many disciplines of Toxicology.