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EPA's Research at the Cutting Edge of Exposure Science
Citation:
Buckley, T. EPA's Research at the Cutting Edge of Exposure Science. ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., Annandale, NJ, Annandale, NJ, November 13, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) serves as the lead for exposure science across U.S. Federal agencies. Exposure science has gained importance with increased appreciation of environmental influences on population disease burden. At a time when population pressure is resulting in fundamental shifts in earth’s geological, natural, and ecological systems, exposure science and its underlying methods, measurements, and modeling approaches holds promise for revealing the feedback loop among societal actions/behaviors, degradation of life sustaining environmental resources, and population wellbeing. A better understanding of these relationships can inform policy as well as individual and community behaviors. With this as a backdrop, three lines of research that are both at the cutting edge of exposure science and of significance to public health are presented. The first line of research applies high-throughput computational exposure science to link consumer product purchase data with the thousands of chemicals comprising their formulation to provide screening-level estimates of exposure. In parallel, we are developing methods for high-throughput non-targeted screening for these same chemicals in house dust to evaluate model estimates. The second line of research takes advantage of significant advances in sensor technology through laboratory and field evaluation as a critical step toward making available practical and reliable individual and household monitoring to inform protective behaviors and activities and enable citizen science. Lastly, results from a population-based survey of Ohio residents evaluating their recreational water contact will be discussed from a perspective of both adverse and salutary wellbeing effects. In summary, these new research approaches demonstrate how exposure science can provide a unique perspective for developing strategies for more robust protection of the environment and human health.