The process of risk (safety) assessment used to determine negligible-risk levels of human exposure to toxicants is subject to a number of sources of uncertainty. In addition to the common uncertainties related to high-to-low-dose extrapolation, interspecies extrapolation and intraspecies extrapolation, there can be uncertainty associated with extrapolation to alternative routes and durations of ...
Public health risk assessment of onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) in the city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria and its environs was carried out between the period of August 2012 and April 2013. The objective of the study was to show how the public health risk assessment tool can be used to improve public policies on OWTS. The study involved desk study reviews of the related literature on ...
An index for the integral characterisation of risk is necessary for improving risk management, comparing the effects of various practices on the environment and keeping risk as low as reasonably achievable while allowing economic development. Based on the previous concepts of public health risk assessment and radiation protection assessment and from the viewpoint of risk management, this paper ...
The concept of hormesis as a phenomenon is presented, in the context of its evolving definitions. Predominant types of hormetic effect and potential examples thereof are discussed, focusing on chemicals. The potential for hormesis to affect regulatory approaches and several basic processes used in formulating risk assessment parameters, such as study design, interpretation of dose-response ...
Untitled Document Following a 1986 decision by Montgomery County in Maryland to construct a municipal waste resource recovery facility near the town of Dickerson, local residents expressed concern regarding the potential health risks associated with the proposed facility. In response, the county conducted a multiple pathway health risk assessment for a generic ...
The aim of the present study was the environmental and health risk assessment of the oil contaminated soil in the Mexican tropic. The case is based on the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and polycyclic aromatic (PAH) soil contamination resulting from the activities of the oil industry over 70 years. The results of this study were estimated using CalTOX, a multimedia exposure model. The ...
A Health Index/Risk Evaluation Tool (HIRET) has been developed for the integration of risk assessment and spatial planning using GIS capabilities. The method is meant to assist decision makers and site owners in the evaluation of potential human health risk with respect to land use. Human health risk defined as the potential adverse effects on human life or health is generally accepted as the ...
Triclosan (TCS; 5‐chloro‐2‐[2,4‐dichlorophenoxy]‐phenol) is an antimicrobial agent found in a variety of pharmaceutical and personal care products. Numerous studies have examined the occurrence and environmental fate of TCS in wastewater, biosolids, biosolids‐amended soils, and plants and organisms exposed to biosolids‐amended soils. TCS has a propensity to adhere to organic carbon in ...
This report provides a critical analysis of two risk assessment reports evaluating the effects of chemical contaminants in the Lower Fox River in Wisconsin. One risk assessment was prepared by ThermoRetec Consulting Corporation (ThermoRetec) on behalf of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and dated February 24, 1999; the other risk assessment was prepared by Exponent on behalf of the ...
The study evaluated the safety of reclaimed water using health risk assessment and biotoxicity tests. The reclaimed water was produced from reverse osmosis and used in industrial and miscellaneous purposes. The health risk assessment was conducted based on the concentrations of detectable pollutants in reclaimed water in a hypothetical scenario. The estimated carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic ...
HRA Heavy Metals is a program designed for Health Risk Assessment (HRA) by determining human exposure to environmental metals for a specific subject. This online program is used to establish if the presence of metals in the area where the individual inhabits exceeds the safety limits established by the current legislation. The use of HRA Heavy Metals requires information on metal concentrations ...
Risk estimates can be calculated using crisp estimates of the exposure variables (i.e., contaminant concentration, contact rate, exposure frequency and duration, body weight, and averaging time). However, aggregate and cumulative exposure studies require a better understanding of exposure variables and uncertainty and variability associated with them. Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) studies ...
Indoor radon studies have been carried out in 100 dwellings of 20 villages in western districts of Haryana, India, using the solidstate nuclear track detector technique. LR115 Type II films in the bare mode were exposed for 1 year on a quarterly basis to cover all the four seasons for the measurement of indoor radon levels. The annual average indoor radon concentration in the study area varies ...
This report is not guidance but rather a presentation of concepts that could assist the development of guidance. It presents risk assessment approaches and information on a subset of issues that are identified in the 2003 Framework for Cumulative Risk Assessment. The sequence of procedural steps suggested in this report is designed to emphasize the links between the exposed population and the ...
The research into the cancer risk posed by radioactive pollution played a pilot role in changing our awareness of long-term health damage from invisible pollution of the environment. Most paradigms, concepts and methods of environmental research used today have been developed in the course of those large scale epidemiological studies such as questions relating to latency, type of cancer, genetic ...
Power generation from combustion turbine projects continues to grow throughout the world. With natural gas as the most common primary fuel, and low-sulfur #2 oil as the backup fuel, combustion turbines are among the cleanest forms of fossil power generation. This paper discusses the results of a preliminary inhalation health risk assessment of air toxic emissions from four power plant ...
An integrated health risk assessment framework including contaminant transport model, exposure assessment models, physiologicallybased pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling, and dose-response assessment was developed in this paper to bridge the gap amongst environmental engineers, toxicologists, and researchers in environmental health science and to improve the comprehensive understanding of the ...
The focus of the present paper regards the identification and treatment of critical issues in the process of societal decision making concerning management of global and catastrophic risks. Taking basis in recent works by the author, the paper in particular addresses: 1) Which are the most relevant hazards in a holistic global perspective and how may these be categorised in view of strategies for ...
The subsoil of an oil storage and distribution station located in eastern central Mexico was characterised in terms of some fuel fractions and metals. The site was found to be contaminated mainly with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) at a concentration higher than that legislated in Mexico. The presence of BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) and 11 of the 16 USEPA polynuclear ...