Inhalation Risk Assessment at the Environmental Protection Agency 1
The potential adverse health effects of human exposures to environmental pollutants are characterized through a process called health risk assessment. The National Research Council, in Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process, defined risk assessment as “the use of the factual base to define the health effects of exposure of individuals or populations to hazardous materials and situations” (NRC, 1983). Risk assessment is based on a conceptual framework wherein research, risk assessment, and risk management are linked (Figure 1.1). The purpose of this chapter is to describe the use of risk assessment in environmental protection programs and the data, methods, models, and guidelines used in health risk assessment for inhalation end points.