A couple of years ago I went to a wool and sheep festival where, for the first time, I watched dogs herd sheep. They were so smart and efficient, one dog handled dozens of sheep! Regulatory agencies should take a similar approach: chemicals, as sheep, should be assessed and their risk managed by groups. There … Continue reading It’s time to regulate chemicals as classes

Health risk assessment is the method that regulators use to determine whether chemicals in the environment pose a risk to people’s health and how much exposure to the chemical produces these effects. Unfortunately, current human health risk assessments don’t capture everyone’s risk level. Our recent paper, Application of Probabilistic Methods to Address Variability and Uncertainty … Continue reading Are “safe” exposure levels really “safe”?

When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) evaluates chemical risks, it assumes for the most part that we are all the same. Or, rather, that some of us might be a little bit more sensitive than others. Ten times more sensitive, to be specific. But that’s not exactly true. When it comes to chemicals in … Continue reading With chemicals that can harm you, one size does not fit all

Protecting the public from the most concerning environmental chemicals and contaminants involves many individual steps. For example, when an agency like the US EPA or FDA evaluates a chemical used in consumer products, they want to evaluate:  the hazards associated with that chemical,   how that chemical causes harm, how much of the chemical is released … Continue reading The weak link: gaps in exposure assessments