Elements Involved in Risk Assessment

When epidemiological data are available, the issues to be dealt with include selection of the appropriate study and control populations, evaluation of exposure levels and tissue doses, determination of the reliability of cancer ascertainment, allowance for the latent period and age distribution of cancers, control of biases and confounding factors, fitting of models to the data to characterize the dose-incidence relationship, and derivation of risk estimates with their associated ranges of uncertainty. 

Laboratory and field obMrvatiani of adveria health effects and exposures to particular agents 

Field measurements, estimated exposures, diancterization of populations 

Hazard Identification (Does the egant cause the adverse effect ) 

Doie-Retpofve Assenment (What is the relationship between dote and incidence in Itumerss ) 

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The elements involved in risk assessment and risk management are depicted schematically in Figure 8.1. The procedure by which carcinogenic risk assessments are generally performed, and the ways in which data of the various types discussed above are utilized in performing such assessments have been reviewed elsewhere (Krewski and Brown, 1981), and are outlined below. 

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