Mundt K A
ENVIRON Health Sciences, ENVIRON International Corporation, P.O. Box 2424, Amherst, MA 01004, USA.
Hum Exp Toxicol. 2006 Jan;25(1):19-21. doi: 10.1191/0960327106ht580oa.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a Staff Paper that articulates current risk assessment practices. In section 4.1.3, EPA states, "... effects that appear to be adaptive, non-adverse, or beneficial may not be mentioned." This statement may be perceived as precluding risk assessments based on non-default risk models, including the hormetic--or biphasic--dose-response model. This commentary examines several potential interpretations of this statement and the anticipated impact of ignoring hormesis, if present, in light of necessary conservatism for protecting human and environmental health, and the potential for employing alternative risk assessment approaches.
美国环境保护局（EPA）最近发布了一份阐述当前风险评估做法的工作人员文件。在第4.1.3节中，EPA指出：“……似乎具有适应性、非有害或有益的影响可能不会被提及。” 这一表述可能被视为排除了基于非默认风险模型的风险评估，包括 hormetic（或双相）剂量反应模型。本评论探讨了这一表述的几种潜在解释，以及在保护人类和环境健康所需的保守性以及采用替代风险评估方法的可能性的背景下，若存在 hormesis 而忽视它可能产生的预期影响。
