Children's health risk assessment: incorporating a lifestage approach into the risk assessment process.
This overview paper provides the historical context for the incorporation of lifestage-specific concerns in human health risk assessment, briefly explains the process employed in a lifestage framework for risk assessment, and discusses the scientific rationale for how utilizing lifestage data will strengthen the overall risk assessment process. This risk assessment approach will add value by: (1) providing a more complete evaluation of the potential for vulnerability at different lifestages, including a focus on the underlying biological events and incorporation of mode of action information related to different critical developmental periods; (2) evaluating the potential for toxicity during all lifestages after early lifestage exposure; (3) reviewing the importance of integrating exposure information and adverse health effects across lifestages; and (4) serving as a basis to extend some aspects of the children's health risk assessment framework to all lifestages.
Brown
Rebecca C
RC
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460, USA. brown.rebecca@epa.gov
Barone
Stanley
S
Kimmel
Carole A
CA
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002669:Child Welfare; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health; D011640:Public Policy; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012308:Risk Management