AN OVERVIEW OF THE RISK ASSESSMENT OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND THE ROLE OF TOXICOLOGY

The chemical risk assessment process and the need for health-based app roaches to identify and characterize potential hazardous substances wi ll be discussed. The risk assessment process can be applied to both wo rkplace and environmental settings. Toxicology will be defined and rel ated to the risk assessment process. A brief overview of toxicity scre ens and tests will be presented in order to help make toxicity data mo re meaningful. Toxicity data for Halon 1301 replacements and trichloro ethylene (TCE) will be presented as examples. The paper will conclude with a description of tri-service toxicology; what it is and what this laboratory provides to the Department of Defense (DOD), industry, and academia.