The public depends on competent risk assessment from the federal government and the scientific community to grapple with the threat of pollution. When risk reports turn out to be overblownâ€"or when risks are overlookedâ€"public skepticism abounds. This comprehensive and readable book explores how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can improve its risk assessment practices, with a focus on implementation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. With a wealth of detailed information, pertinent examples, and revealing analysis, the volume explores the "default option" and other basic concepts. It offers two views of EPA operations: The first examines how EPA currently assesses exposure to hazardous air pollutants, evaluates the toxicity of a substance, and characterizes the risk to the public. The second, more holistic, view explores how EPA can improve in several critical areas of risk assessment by focusing on cross-cutting themes and incorporating more scientific judgment. This comprehensive volume will be important to the EPA and other agencies, risk managers, environmental advocates, scientists, faculty, students, and concerned individuals.

Wildlife Toxicity Assessments for Chemicals of Military Concern is a compendium of chemical-specific toxicity information with discussions on the rationale and development of Wildlife Toxicity Reference Values (TRVs) intended for use on terrestrial wildlife for risk assessment applications. Substances covered include military-related chemicals including explosives, propellants, pesticides and metals. Wildlife Toxicity Assessments for Chemicals of Military Concern is a much-needed resource designed to meet the needs of those seeking toxicological information for ecological risk assessment purposes. Each chapter targets a specific chemical and considers the current knowledge of the toxicological impacts of chemicals to terrestrial wildlife including mammalian, avian, amphibian and reptilian species. - Provides detailed information on how Wildlife Toxicity Values (TRVs) for military chemicals of concern are derived and evaluated. - Covers wildlife toxicity assessments of explosives, metals and environmental chemicals. - Compiles relevant information on the environmental effects of chemicals on wildlife in relation to public and environmental health.

Advances in molecular biology and toxicology are paving the way for major improvements in the evaluation of the hazards posed by the large number of chemicals found at low levels in the environment. The National Research Council was asked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review the state of the science and create a far-reaching vision for the future of toxicity testing. The book finds that developing, improving, and validating new laboratory tools based on recent scientific advances could significantly improve our ability to understand the hazards and risks posed by chemicals. This new knowledge would lead to much more informed environmental regulations and dramatically reduce the need for animal testing because the new tests would be based on human cells and cell components. Substantial scientific efforts and resources will be required to leverage these new technologies to realize the vision, but the result will be a more efficient, informative and less costly system for assessing the hazards posed by industrial chemicals and pesticides.

This book collects protocols from different areas of knowledge to assist in the identification of toxic effects exerted by different xenobiotics. At the same time as classical techniques are presented, modern techniques with alternative models to the use of animals are also presented. Given the ever-increasing exposure to different compounds and their effects on population health, the assessment of multiple endpoints is of utmost importance for better risk assessment, and this collection addresses that need. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Toxicity Assessment: Methods and Protocols aims to serve researchers in this vast field of science as they seek to better understand the mechanisms of action of different xenobiotics.

People are exposed to a variety of chemicals throughout their daily lives. To protect public health, regulators use risk assessments to examine the effects of chemical exposures. This book provides guidance for assessing the risk of phthalates, chemicals found in many consumer products that have been shown to affect the development of the male reproductive system of laboratory animals. Because people are exposed to multiple phthalates and other chemicals that affect male reproductive development, a cumulative risk assessment should be conducted that evaluates the combined effects of exposure to all these chemicals. The book suggests an approach for cumulative risk assessment that can serve as a model for evaluating the health risks of other types of chemicals.

Toxicity testing in laboratory animals provides much of the information used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assess the hazards and risks associated with exposure to environmental agents that might harm public health or the environment. The data are used to establish maximum acceptable concentrations of environmental agents in drinking water, set permissible limits of exposure of workers, define labeling requirements, establish tolerances for pesticides residues on food, and set other kinds of limits on the basis of risk assessment. Because the number of regulations that require toxicity testing is growing, EPA called for a comprehensive review of established and emerging toxicity-testing methods and strategies. This interim report reviews current toxicity-testing methods and strategies and near-term improvements in toxicity-testing approaches proposed by EPA and others. It identifies several recurring themes and questions in the various reports reviewed. The final report will present a long-range vision and strategic plan to advance the practices of toxicity testing and human health assessment of environmental contaminants.

The pesticide should cause effect on the target pests and be selective enough to spare the non-target beneficial. The book deals with the pesticide toxicity to predators, parasitoids and microbes which are used for pest management in the agroecosystem. The other beneficials exposed to pesticides are pollinators, earthworms, silkworm and fishes. The book contains information on the modes of pesticide exposure and toxicity to the organisms, sub-lethal effects of insecticides and method of toxicity assessment, risk assessment of pesticidal application in the field. The purpose of the work is to compile and present the different procedures to assess pesticide poising in organisms related to the agroecosystem along with discussions on risk assessment procedures with clear comparison of toxicity of pesticides to target pests and non target beneficial organisms.