Risk assessment Program compared

Contemporary risk assessment practices for pesticides in foods require far more data than simply the residue levels evaluated in government monitoring programs. Exposure to pesticides is determined by multiplying the residue levels on food by the amount of the food item consumed once determined, exposure is compared with standard toxicological criteria derived from animal toxicology studies to determine the acceptability of the exposure. 

Data from both human and animal exposures are frequently used in the risk assessment of chemical exposures [12]. Most toxicity data are obtained from animal studies. Human data sources are often not recognized, and internationally there is a lack of systematic experimental and clinical (human) observational data. Available data are often of poor comparability and frequently include inadequate follow-up. A number of institutions and services have the ability to collect human health data, and these include poisons information centres, clinical toxicology centres, pre- and post-natal surveillance programs, occupational health services and hospital out-patient services. 

Because of the risk of analytical errors, it is crucial that every laboratory runs and reports a quality assurance program (cf. Friberg, 1988). This should include both internal and external quality control. The internal quality control procedure should include, in each analytical series, a sufficient number of samples with the same matrix as the study samples, and with a relevant mercury concentration. The results obtained are compared with pre-defined levels of acceptability. The external quality control may be assessed by inter-laboratory exchange of samples with (to the iaboratory) unknown concentrations, and by analysis of reference samples with well-defined levels. 

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