A method for quantitative risk appraisal for pesticide risk assessments

Pesticide risk assessments are fraught with uncertainties that arise from the process of estimating exposure to and toxicity of chemicals. Regulatory agencies resolve those uncertainties in a health-protective (conservative) manner, typically acknowledging only inter- and intraspecies uncertainties...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A Part A, 2017-01, Vol.80 (1), p.1-17
Main Authors: Cochran, Roger C., Ross, John H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Appraisals
Estimating
Exposure
Humans
Hydrocarbons, Iodinated - toxicity
Insecticides - toxicity
Mevinphos - toxicity
Parathion - toxicity
Pesticides
Pesticides - toxicity
Policies
Risk
Risk assessment
Risk Assessment - methods
Safety
Uncertainty
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Summary:Pesticide risk assessments are fraught with uncertainties that arise from the process of estimating exposure to and toxicity of chemicals. Regulatory agencies resolve those uncertainties in a health-protective (conservative) manner, typically acknowledging only inter- and intraspecies uncertainties quantitatively. Other uncertainties may be acknowledged qualitatively, but those safety factors (SF) are not enumerated. Quantitative risk appraisal may be used to enumerate the multiplicative SF generated by conservative assumptions regarding uncertainties. The magnitude of SF derived from decision points dealing with historically unquantified uncertainty may far exceed explicit SF used to gauge acceptable margins of exposure (MoE). Examination of the basis for some previously unenumerated SF may justify potential changes in regulatory practices and policies. Using past risk assessments of 3 pesticides (mevinphos, parathion, and methyl iodide) for which the California Department of Pesticide Regulation found unacceptable risk as examples, the previously unquantified SF ranged from 47 to 1 × 10 6 for scenarios involving handlers, reentry workers, and bystanders.
ISSN:1528-7394
1087-2620
2381-3504
DOI:10.1080/15287394.2016.1224747