Major environmental legislation has given the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the regulatory tools it needs to protect our environment and public health. Environmental protection, however, requires more than legislative vehicles; appropriate regulatory decisions based on those laws must be founded on scientific data concerning the scope and magnitude of health risks associated with the environmental hazards to which the public is exposed. To address the broad range of environmental contaminants covered under various legislative statutes, HERL research must assist EPA in evaluating the health risks for diverse environmental agents. While the chemical and physical composition of these pollutants differs significantly, the evaluation of their health effects must address a common set of issues: exposure, or the extent to which humans are exposed to pollutants in the environment; dose, or the relationship between the exposure and the dose of the pollutant received at the site(s) of toxic action within the body; and effect, or the health impact from the pollutant dose. These fundamental issues form the risk assessment paradigm that underlies the research needs of all EPA regulatory program areas, and therefore they are central to the entire HERL program.

Shipping list no.: 91-0165-P. "December 1990." "EPA/600-9-90-053."