Interpretation of toxicological data

Furst A. (1994) Issues in interpretation of toxicological data for use in risk assessment. J. Haz Mater. 39, 143-148. 

Hayes TJ. Interpretation of toxicological data from responsive and non-respon-sive species. In Preclinical Evaluation of Peptides and Recombinant Proteins. Malmo, Sweden Skogs Grafiska AB, A Sundwall, L Ekman, H-E Johansson - eds 1990 15-18. 

Regardless of the cause, the differences in interpretation of toxicological data illustrated here can obviously affect both the outcome of a risk assessment and the risk management decisions based on such an assessment. 

Data on the toxicokinetics of a substance can be very useful in the interpretation of toxicological findings, and may replace the use of some default extrapolation factors used in route-to-route (Section 5.5) or interspecies extrapolations (Section 5.3). In addition, interindividual differences in sensitivity to toxicants may be identified on the basis of toxicokinetic data, thereby making it possible to make the risk assessment more comprehensive by including sensitive subpopulations (Section 5.4). In conjunction with information on the relationship between concentration-dose at the target site and the toxic effect, toxicokinetic information may be an important tool for extrapolation from high to low dose effects. 

Despite the powerful nature of biomonitoring (Wilhelm et al. 2004), the utility and interpretation of the data are controversial. The controversy stems in part from the fact that the pace at which biomonitoring data are being generated has eclipsed the development of basic epidemiology, toxicology, and exposure-assessment techniques that are needed to evaluate... 

ECETOC (European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals). 2005. Guidance for the Interpretation of Biomonitoring Data. Document No. 44. Brussel, Belgium ... 

Page, D.S., Widdows, J., 1991. Temporal and spatial variation in levels of alkyltins in mussels tissues A toxicological interpretation of field data. Mar. Environ. Res. 32, 113-129. 

Toxicokinetics is defined as the generation of pharmacokinetic data, either as an integral component in the conduct of nonclinical toxicity studies or in specially designed supportive studies, in order to assess systemic exposure. These data may be used in the interpretation of toxicology findings and their relevance to clinical safety issues (ICH Guidance Toxicokinetics 1994). 

Ruden, C., (2001) Interpretations of primary data in 29 trichloroethylene carcinogen risk assessments. Toxicology 169(3) 209-225. 

Risk characterization is the calculation of risk for aU potential receptors that may be exposed to hazardous wastes. It includes calculating risk for different exposure routes to both noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic hazardous chemicals. Often this requires the use of toxicological data derived from animal studies. Furst (1994) discussed issues in the interpretation of this data, and suggested that animal toxicity data should only be used for risk calculation when experiments employ routes that mimic human exposure (i.e., oral, inhalation, or dermal). 

Bruinink A. In Vitro Toxicokinetics and Dynamics Modeling and Interpretation of Toxicity Data. In Gad SC, ed. Preclinical Development Handbook Toxicology Wiley-Interscience 2008 509-550. 

Policymakers develop workplace standards or institute protective measures by considering health risk data along with economics, the available technology, and the sociopolitical climate. The role of occupational toxicology in the development of sound and equitable safety measures is to provide the most accurate interpretation of toxicological and epidemiological data possible. 

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