title: Risk assessment relationships for evaluating effluents from coal industries.
abstract: Public awareness of the risks associated with traditional coal combustion and newer coal gasification and liquefaction industries is increasing. Assessing the health risks for people exposed to effluents from these industries generally involves four major steps: (1) characterizing the pollutant sources, (2) projecting the release and dispersion of toxic substances in workplaces and in the environment, (3) estimating their uptake by people through inhalation and ingestion and their contact with skin, and (4) evaluating their potential for causing health effects. Pollutants of special concern include toxic gases, carcinogenic organic compounds and trace metals. Relationships between the levels of pollutants released to the environment and the magnitudes of human exposures and methods of formulating exposure-dose-effect relationships for use in human risk assessment are discussed.
mesh_terms: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000633:toxicity; D001682:Biological Availability; D003031:Coal / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003032:Coal Mining; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D012306:Risk; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D003031:Coal