Hormesis and risk assessment.
It is postulated in this paper that at low doses all chemicals have hormetic/hormoligotic (beneficial) effects in living organisms. It has been known since Paracelsus that at high doses all chemicals are toxic. The combination of low and high dose effects can be empirically described by a beta-curve or an inverted beta-curve. A mathematical method is suggested to determine the maximum of the beta-curve or the minimum of the inverted beta-curve, yielding a point estimate for risk assessment.
Rozman
Karl K
KK
Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center, 1018 Breidenthal Building, Mail Stop 1018, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, KS 66160-7417, USA. krozman@kumc.edu
D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D008954:Models, Biological; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D014116:Toxicology