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The Human Exposure Model (HEM) User Guide
Citation:
Dionisio, K. AND I. ICF Staff. The Human Exposure Model (HEM) User Guide. U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC, EPA/600/B-18/328, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
The health impacts of chemicals in commerce are assessed by EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT). Under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, OPPT has been mandated to comprehensively evaluate the human and ecological risk posed by man-made chemicals used in commerce. The high-tier Human Exposure Model (HEM) directly addresses many of the specific requirements regarding exposure assessment laid out in the Lautenberg Act, including exposures to susceptible populations, exposures associated with specific conditions of chemical use, consideration of duration and pattern of exposure, and methods to systematically implement specific assessments.
Description:
Development of the Human Exposure Model builds upon previous EPA efforts in high-throughput chemical exposure modeling. Three stand-alone (yet interacting) main modules (the Residence-Population Generator, the Product Use Scheduler, and the Source-to-Dose Module), together with several default input files (many of which are produced from related CSS research efforts), make up the core HEM model. This document, the HEM User Guide, details the software requirements and logistics of how to run the HEM model to obtain results.