HUMAN EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT An Introduction

The views expressed in documents by named authors are solely the responsibility of those authors. The illustrations of the cover page are from the WHO photo library. III Preface T his book is part of a World Health Organization (WHO) series on teaching material and provides an introduction to the basic principles and methods of human exposure assessment. It constitutes a complement to Basic Epidemiology by Beaglehole et al (1993), and to Environmental Epidemiology (Baker et al, 1999), previously published by WHO. The textbook is intended for use in training courses, but also includes some fundamental information for the interested reader. The target groups are: • Environmental medicine and epidemiology students • Environmental and occupational health professionals • Risk management professionals • People with a basic knowledge of environmental health and epidemiology • Chemists, engineers and students of life-sciences The purpose of this book is to present basic knowledge about human exposure assessment and how it relates to other scientific specialities involved in public health protection. The overall aim of human exposure assessment is to promote and protect public health. It comprises all the methods available to describe, estimate and determine, qualitatively and quantitatively, people's contact with hazardous agents. The character of exposure assessment is multidisciplinary and therefore involves experts from various fields of science. Human exposure assessment plays an important role in epidemiology, risk assessment and risk management, as well as in status and trend analysis. The science of human exposure assessment is a growing field and this textbook offers references to more in-depth books and reviews which are provided at the end of this book (Chapter 10: Continuing your education). The World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have been promoting improved human exposure assessment through various activities for more than 20 years. One of these activities was the Human Exposure Assessment Location (HEAL) project which was implemented by WHO and UNEP with support from US EPA, the Japanese Government and other national agencies and which ran for more than 10 years (UNEP/WHO, 1986). The HEAL project was initiated to promote international collaboration in development and harmonisation of exposure assessment methodology and quality assurance activities. T IV In 1995, in response to the recommendations from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro 1992, the HEAL project was reorientated. The emphasis is now on the preparation of training and …