A Toolbox for Health Risk Related Decisions
Abstract
Development efforts since the late 1970s have resulted in a generalized method for ranking health hazards. This method provides the basis for a wide range of applications where decisions are needed for allocating resources on the basis of health risk considerations. It has been used for more than a decade to solve real problems and it is supported by 23 publications in the open literature. The diversity of this generalized methodology allows us to provide support in a great number of problem areas. We give four examples in this manuscript: (1) the relative toxicities of petroleum mixtures: (2) a method to derive Emergency Response Planning Guides: (3) an estimate of the possible carcinogenic potency of tungsten an alternative material to depleted uranium for heavy armor penetrators. and (4) an approach to low dose extrapolation. Our experience suggests that many more applications of the original concept and variations on it can be of utility in military situations. Some potentially fruitful areas may be in the: development of a health-risk-ranking system for alternative solutions to manufacturing, waste management and remediation: provision of a basis for identifying levels of hazardous agents which are below health concerns, or which should be of concern; development of a framework for evaluating chemicals and radioactive materials on the same basis and in the development of a battery of in vitro bioassays which could take the place of long-term whole animal tests.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADP017724
Entities
People
- Clay E. Easterly
- Troyce D. Jones
Organizations
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory