Exposure Assessment in Risk Assessment,

The assessment of exposure is an important component of the risk assessment process. Exposure information is used in risk assessment in at least two ways 1 in the identification of hazards and the epidemiologic research investigating exposure-response relationships and 2 in the development of population exposure estimates. In both of these cases, the value of a chemical risk assessment is enhanced by improvement in the quality of exposure assessments. The optimum exposure assessment is the direct measurement of population exposure however, such measurement are rarely available. Recent developments in methods for exposure assessments allow estimates to be made that are valid representations of actual exposure. The use of these exposure estimates to classify exposure enhances the likelihood that causal associations between exposure and response will be correctly identified and the population risks will be accurately assessed