Online Program

287405
Changing risk assessment landscape in the context of exposure to mixtures of metals and gene-environment interaction


Monday, November 4, 2013

Katherine von Stackelberg, ScD, Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Elizabeth Guzy, MPH, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
David Bellinger, PhD, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
Risk assessment, as a regulatory science, is used to inform decision making at scales ranging from site-specific remediation to policy development. Current risk assessment guidance dictates a largely chemical-by-chemical evaluation of exposures and risks which fails to adequately address potential interactions with other chemicals, other non-chemical stressors, and genetic influences. The Superfund Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health is exploring these issues in the context of exposures to mixtures of metals, including lead, arsenic, and manganese and neurodevelopmental health outcomes in children. We first provide an overview of emerging issues in risk assessment methodology including cumulative risk, distributional effects (e.g., susceptible populations and environmental justice and equity), epigenetics and timing of exposure, and the proliferation of high-throughput assay data rather than the traditional animal studies. We discuss the policy implications of these issues using specific examples from our research program. Finally, we identify and propose methodological strategies to support environmental decision making in the face of increased scientific complexity.

Learning Areas:

Environmental health sciences

Learning Objectives:
Define risk assessment Explain emerging issues in risk assessment methodology Describe specific examples of gene-environment interaction in the context of exposures to mixtures of metals and neurodevelopmental health outcomes in children

Keyword(s): Risk Assessment, Environmental Exposures

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Leader of the Research Translation Core for the Superfund Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health. In addition, I am a Research Manager at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis and the PI or co-PI of several federally funded grants focused on risk assessment, regulatory science, and environmental decision making.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.