Chemical Paradigm for Risk Management of Stochastic Responses

2 Chemical Paradigm for Risk Management of Stochastic Responses 

The chemical paradigm for management of stochastic risks is applied to control of exposures to stochastic chemicals under authority of several environmental laws. The chemical paradigm also applies to control of radiation exposures when these exposures are regulated under authority of any laws other than AEA. 

The chemical paradigm also differs from the radiation paradigm in that there are no standards that apply to all controlled sources of exposure and all hazardous substances combined, as in radiation protection standards. Regulations for hazardous chemicals generally apply only to specific release pathways (eg., the atmosphere) or 

The chemical paradigm for risk management also is used in regulating exposures to hazardous chemicals that cause deterministic effects and exhibit a threshold in the dose-response relationship. For these substances, RfDs, which are often used to define acceptable exposures, represent negligible doses, because RfDs usually are well below assumed thresholds for deterministic responses in humans and action to reduce doses below RfDs generally is not required. This interpretation is supported by cases where doses above an RfD are allowed when achieving RfD is not feasible. A particular example 

In contrast, acceptable in the chemical paradigm usually means negligible because further reductions in risk usually need not be considered even if they would be cost-effective, and unacceptable  

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