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Benchmark Dose Software (BMDS), User Guide, Version 3.2
Citation:
Gift, Jeff, Allen Davis, T. Blessinger, M. Wheeler, L. Olszyk, B. Allen, C. Simmons, Y. Xu, AND M. Brown. Benchmark Dose Software (BMDS), User Guide, Version 3.2. U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-20/216, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Benchmark Dose Software (BMDS) was developed as a tool to facilitate the application of benchmark dose (BMD) methods to EPA hazardous pollutant risk assessments. This user guide provides instruction on how to use the BMDS but is not intended to address or replace EPA BMD guidance. However, every attempt has been made to make this software consistent with EPA guidance, including the Risk Assessment Forum (RAF) Benchmark Dose Technical Guidance Document (U.S. EPA, 2012).
Description:
BMDS is an application that facilitates dose-response modeling. BMDS models are currently accessible via an Excel-based user interface. Dose-response modeling is a technique, often used in toxicology and risk assessment, for quantitatively relating exposure (the dose) to a biological outcome (the response). It may be thought of as an elaborate form of regression, which is the statistical technique used to explore or represent the relationship(s) between two (or more) variables. In the dose-response context, the dose term (e.g., mg of chemical per kg body weight per day) is most often viewed as the “cause” of the response (e.g., presence of a tumor or other manifestation of disease or a measure of the weight of some organ that might be susceptible to the toxic effects of the exposure). BMDS collects together, and provides easy access to, numerous dose-response models that the user may select from and/or compare, to make predictions about the quantitative relationship between dose and response. One specific focus of this software is the estimation of a benchmark dose (BMD), including bounds (e.g., 95% confidence intervals) on such estimates.