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Comparison of reference doses (RfDs) developed for the protection of wildlife species in contrast to humans

Conference ·
OSTI ID:218409
; ;  [1]
  1. California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Sacramento, CA (United States)

A component of both human health and ecological risk assessments is the evaluation of toxicity values. A comparison between the methodology for the development of Reference Doses (RfDs) to be protective of humans, and that developed for vertebrate wildlife species is presented. For all species, a chronic No Observable Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) is developed by applying uncertainty factors (UFs) to literature-based toxicity values. Uncertainty factors are used to compensate for the length of exposure, sensitivity of endpoints, and cross-species extrapolations between the test species and the species being assessed. Differences between human and wildlife species could include the toxicological endpoint, the critical study, and the magnitude of the cross-species extrapolation factor. Case studies for select chemicals are presented which contrast RfDs developed for humans and those developed for avian and mammalian wildlife.

OSTI ID:
218409
Report Number(s):
CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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