Assessing environmental health risks: part 1

Questions about health risks from toxic chemicals in the environment are raised frequently by concerned citizens and scientists alike. How do the authors know whether public exposures to chemical are dangerous to workers in the chemical industry or to residents of communities near industrial sites Is an outbreak of a new disease in a community due to an exposure from a nearby industry or to a communicable disease Can the authors adequately protect human health by relying solely on data from studies of animals exposed in the laboratory Do epidemiologic studies really provide the last word in the analysis of risk And finally, are risks to human health the only risks one should be assessing In this article and the second part which will follow next month, the author reviews the analytical approaches used to quantitatively evaluate public exposures to toxic chemicals. The techniques of exposure assessment, dose reconstruction, risk assessment, and epidemiologic analysis are described, compared, and discussed with regard to their effectiveness in predicting the risks from chemicals in the environment and in protecting the public's health.