Exploring potential sources of differential vulnerability and susceptibility in risk from environmental hazards to expand the scope of risk assessment.
Genetic factors, other exposures, individual disease states and allostatic load, psychosocial stress, and socioeconomic position all have the potential to modify the response to environmental exposures. Moreover, many of these modifiers covary with the exposure, leading to much higher risks in some subgroups. These are not theoretical concerns; rather, all these patterns have already been demonstrated in studies of the effects of lead and air pollution. However, recent regulatory impact assessments for these exposures have generally not incorporated these findings. Therefore, differential risk and vulnerability is a critically important but neglected area within risk assessment, and should be incorporated in the future.
Department of Environmental Health and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. joel@hsph.harvard.edu
Joel
J
Schwartz
David
D
Bellinger
Thomas
T
Glass
D000367:Age Factors; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000633:toxicity; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D035862:Vulnerable Populations
D000393:Air Pollutants; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D007854:Lead