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Risk Assessment in Wastewater Reclamation and Reuse
Published in Donald R. Rowe, Isam Mohammed Abdel-Magid, Handbook of Wastewater Reclamation and Reuse, 2020
Donald R. Rowe, Isam Mohammed Abdel-Magid
To quantify exposure to various agents that may be harmful to human health, dose-response curves for potential noncarcinogens and carcinogens are used. For the noncarcinogens, a threshold is assumed to exist, while for carcinogens no threshold is presumed to be present. A reference dose (RfD) is used to calculate risk for noncarcinogens, while a slope factor or potency factor is used for carcinogens. The RfDs and slope factors are available through EPA. The EPA Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) has at present a computerized list of this information for approximately 500 chemicals. To develop the RfDs and slope factors, data from epidemiological studies, animal test studies, pharmacokinetic studies, cell or microorganisms studies, and the agent’s own chemical structure are used to evaluate RfDs and slope factors. Under low dose-response conditions numerous mathematical models are available to extrapolate from high dose exposures to low dose exposures. Mathematical models are available for both chemical and biological agents. The model recommended by EPA is the linearized multistage model as it is one of the most conservative models and overemphasizes risk.
The Elements of Human Health Risk Assessment
Published in Elizabeth L. Anderson, Roy E. Albert, RISK ASSESSMENT and INDOOR AIR QUALITY, 2019
Elizabeth L. Anderson, David R. Patrick
The estimates of risk resulting from exposure to a carcinogen rest on the determination of the cancer potency factor. This factor, which usually represents the risk associated with a unit lifetime average dose or intake level, is multiplied by the average measured or estimated lifetime human intake to estimate risk. The EPA has conducted numerous studies in the past to estimate cancer potency factors, but resource reductions and the sheer number of possible environmental carcinogens means that many outside organizations must now conduct much of the basic research. The EPA maintains a database, the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), of scientifically accepted cancer potency factors. Unfortunately, resource limitations have prevented IRIS from being updated as frequently as originally planned.
Human Health Risk Assessment
Published in Lorris G. Cockerham, Barbara S. Shane, Basic Environmental Toxicology, 2019
Baseline risk assessments of hazardous waste sites use carcinogen slope factors and noncarcinogen reference doses which have been developed by the EPA when they are available. They can be obtained from the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), an EPA data base. Without data in IRIS, other EPA or ATSDR documents (Health Effects Assessment Summary Tables [HEAST], criteria documents, and toxicology profiles) can be used.
Volatile organic compounds in carpet manufacturing plants: Exposure levels and probabilistic risk assessment using Monte-Carlo simulations
Published in Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 2022
Amir Hossein Khoshakhlagh, Simone Morais
Due to the growing concern of people about the impact of environmental and occupational exposure to chemicals on human health, risk assessment, especially human health risk assessment, has been in the spotlight. The overall framework divides the risk assessment process into four components: 1. risk identification, 2. assessment of dose-response, 3. exposure assessment and 4. risk characterization (Morken et al. 2000; Winder and Stacey 2004; Tong et al. 2020). The integrated risk information system (IRIS) is a US environmental protection agency database that contains the US environmental protection agency’s scientific positions on the negative effects on human health that may result from chronic exposure to food or inhalation of certain chemicals in environment. It is also a scientific human health assessment program that assesses quantitative and qualitative risk information for effects that may be caused by exposure to environmental pollutants (Sousa et al. 2011; Tong et al. 2020).
Implications of toxicity testing for health risk assessment of vapor-phase and PM2.5-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during the diesel engine combustion
Published in Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 2022
Guan-Fu Chen, Ying-Chi Lin, Yuan-Chung Lin, Chia-Chi Wang, Wei-Hsiang Chen
Health risk assessment is an iterative process that quantifies health risks to humans resulting from exposure to hazardous compounds under multiple exposure scenarios (USEPA 2021). This approach is typically used to assess health risks stemming from inhalation, ingestion, or dermal exposure of pollutants in the vapor, water, and solid phases (Li et al. 2014; Chen et al. 2016a, 2018). The incremental risks relevant to each scenario were estimated and combined to know the overall risk attributable to all the scenarios. The USEPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) is one example database that provides toxicity data for health effects due to chronic exposure to chemicals (USEPA 2021). However, limited information is available for chemicals bound to particles such as PM2.5, increasing the challenge of calculating PM-related health effects. Studies have attempted to investigate the inhalation bioaccessibility for accurately calculating the health risks posed by PM2.5-bound PAHs (Li et al. 2019; Zeng et al.). In these studies, PM2.5 samples were collected for PAH analysis, followed by being extracted using simulated epithelial lung fluid to assess the PAH inhalation bioaccessibility. Toxicity tests such as cytotoxicity and cell viability represent another approach to revealing the association between PM2.5-bound PAHs and their health risks (Tong et al. 2019).
Elemental composition of ambient air particles in Taiyuan, China: evaluation of lifetime cancer and non-cancer risks
Published in Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 2020
Xin Zhang, Xu Bai, Chenghuan Li, Tian Li, Rihua Wang, Zhuohui Zhao, Dan Norback
There are many authorities such as the IARC, EPA, and National Toxicology Program (NTP) that classify carcinogens. The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS 2018) is a widely used source of information on toxicity materials issued by the USEPA. Cr(VI) compounds, As, Ni compounds, Cd and Cd compounds are classified as human carcinogens (Group 1) by many governmental agencies and international organizations. Pb (Group 2B) is regarded as a possible human carcinogen, and trivalent Cr is not classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 3) by the IARC (IARC 1990, 1993, 2006, 2012).