McClellan R O
Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 1997 Sep;105 Suppl 5(Suppl 5):1363-72. doi: 10.1289/ehp.97105s51363.
The ultimate goal of toxicologic investigations of both natural and man-made fibrous and nonfibrous particles is to provide essential input for the assessment of potential human risks from exposure to these materials. The development of risk assessment procedures for airborne particles has evolved over the years. The earliest assessments for naturally occurring materials used direct human observations and incorporated safety factors to arrive at allowable human exposures. More recently, there has been a need to assess the potential risk associated with production and use of certain man-made materials for which human data are not available or are inadequate. For these materials, it has been necessary to assess human risks using data obtained from studies conducted in laboratory animals and with cells or tissues. During the last several decades, it has been suggested that data on the mechanisms by which particles cause disease could be used to reduce the uncertainty in estimates of human risks of particle exposures. This article provides comments on the use of mechanistic data in the risk assessment process and suggestions for increasing the successful development and use of mechanistic data in risk assessments conducted in the future.
对天然和人造纤维及非纤维颗粒进行毒理学研究的最终目标是为评估人类接触这些物质的潜在风险提供重要依据。多年来，空气传播颗粒风险评估程序不断发展。对天然物质的最早评估采用直接人体观察，并纳入安全系数以确定允许的人体接触量。最近，有必要评估与某些人造材料的生产和使用相关的潜在风险，而这些材料的人体数据要么不可得，要么不充分。对于这些材料，必须利用从实验室动物以及细胞或组织研究中获得的数据来评估人类风险。在过去几十年中，有人提出，关于颗粒致病机制的数据可用于减少颗粒接触对人类风险估计的不确定性。本文就风险评估过程中机制数据的使用发表评论，并就未来风险评估中如何更成功地开发和使用机制数据提出建议。
