Health risk of combustion products: toxicological considerations

Combustion of organic material produces an almost uncountable number of pro ducts among which are many chemicals known to have toxic properties. A pert inent example is the diesel engine emission. There is concern about the pos sible health effects and we would like to know what risk is associated with the exposure. If risk is defined as the probability that a certain health effect occurs w ithin a defined time span or as a result of a certain strain (Royal Society Study Group) - and it is important to emphasize the quantitative aspect of this definition we must admit that we do not know a good answer. The examp le of diesel exhaust is used to demonstrate the toxicological approach to r isk characterization in general and the possible improvement of exposure as sessment with nitroarenes as indicators for environmental contaminations in particular. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.