PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The manufacture and production of industrial chemicals continues to increase, with hundreds of thousands of chemicals and chemical mixtures used worldwide, leading to widespread population exposures and resultant health impacts. Low-wealth communities and communities of color often bear disproportionate burdens of exposure and impact; all compounded by regulatory delays to the detriment of public health. Multiple authoritative bodies and scientific consensus groups have called for actions to prevent harmful exposures via improved policy approaches. We worked across multiple disciplines to develop consensus recommendations for health-protective, scientific approaches to reduce harmful chemical exposures, which can be applied to current US policies governing industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants. This consensus identifies five principles and scientific recommendations for improving how agencies like the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approach and conduct hazard and risk assessment and risk management analyses: (1) the financial burden of data generation for any given chemical on (or to be introduced to) the market should be on the chemical producers that benefit from their production and use; (2) lack of data does not equate to lack of hazard, exposure, or risk; (3) populations at greater risk, including those that are more susceptible or more highly exposed, must be better identified and protected to account for their real-world risks; (4) hazard and risk assessments should not assume existence of a \"safe\" or \"no-risk\" level of chemical exposure in the diverse general population; and (5) hazard and risk assessments must evaluate and account for financial conflicts of interest in the body of evidence. While many of these recommendations focus specifically on the EPA, they are general principles for environmental health that could be adopted by any agency or entity engaged in exposure, hazard, and risk assessment. We also detail recommendations for four priority areas in companion papers (exposure assessment methods, human variability assessment, methods for quantifying non-cancer health outcomes, and a framework for defining chemical classes). These recommendations constitute key steps for improved evidence-based environmental health decision-making and public health protection.
摘要：
工业化学品的制造和生产继续增加，全球使用了成千上万的化学品和化学混合物，导致广泛的人口暴露和由此产生的健康影响。低财富社区和有色人种社区往往承担着不成比例的暴露和影响负担；所有这些都因监管延误而加剧，损害了公共卫生。多个权威机构和科学共识小组呼吁采取行动，通过改进的政策方法来防止有害暴露。我们跨越多个学科，为健康保护制定共识建议，减少有害化学物质暴露的科学方法，这可以适用于当前美国管理工业化学品和环境污染物的政策。该共识确定了五项原则和科学建议，以改善美国环境保护署（EPA）等机构的方法和进行危害和风险评估以及风险管理分析的方式：（1）对（或将被引入）市场的任何特定化学品的数据生成的财务负担应该是受益于其生产和使用的化学品生产商；（2）缺乏数据并不等同于缺乏危害，暴露,或风险；(3)风险更大的人群，包括那些更易感或更高暴露的人，（4）危险和风险评估不应假设不同人群中存在“安全”或“无风险”的化学品暴露水平；（5）危险和风险评估必须评估和说明证据中的金融利益冲突。虽然其中许多建议专门针对EPA，它们是环境健康的一般原则，可以被任何从事接触的机构或实体采用，危险,和风险评估。我们还在配套文件中详细介绍了四个优先领域的建议(暴露评估方法，人类变异性评估，量化非癌症健康结果的方法，和定义化学类别的框架)。这些建议构成了改进基于证据的环境健康决策和公共卫生保护的关键步骤。
