Risk Assessment In Toxicology

As part of managing the health and safety of people, risks should be controlled. A risk refers to situations where outcomes are uncertain. There is no sector of life, business, the economy or the environment that is immune to risks. Prior to controlling and managing risks, it is important to know the nature, the likelihood of occurrence and the magnitude of risks (DEAT, 2006). Botkin & Keller, 2014 defines risk assessment in toxicology as “the process of determining potential adverse health effects of exposure to toxic materials”. According to Murray & Claassen, 1999 a risk assessment is a process of comprehensive scientific integrity. Political, economic, environmental and social issues and those issues of importance to management are taken

The frequency and duration of exposure measurement are key considerations for characterizing the temporal patterns of exposure to a chemical pollutant (for example a pesticide). The quantitative estimation of chemical exposure can be approached in any of the three ways: personal measurements, scenario-based assessment, and reconstructive analyses of biological measurements (Barr et al. 2006; Sexton et al. 1995) as cited by Hoppin, Adgate, Eberhart, Nishioka & Ryan (2006). Personal measurements document exposures as they occur by measuring the chemical (pesticide) concentration at the point of contact between the person and the environmental medium where the pesticide exists. Scenario based exposure assessment entails the construction of a plausible set of assumptions that describes quantitatively how contact occurs between people and pesticides. This approach requires the use of available measurements in combination with readings and professional judgment. Biological measures of exposure are used to reconstruct dose from body burden measurements if information or assumptions about rates of intake, uptake, and metabolism are available (Hoppin et al., 2006). Exposure assessment is difficult and produce controversial results, partly because of challenges in measuring the concentration of a toxin in doses as small

Risk assessment involves the integration of diverse scientific information to provide descriptions of risk that are useful for practical public health; regulatory and corporate decision making (Rodricks, 2007). However risk assessment is difficult, costly and controversial. Each chemical is different and there is no one method of determining responses of humans (Botkins & Keller, 2014).

4 Open Educational Resources

Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007 describes Open educational resources (OER) as “materials in any medium that reside in the public domain that have been released under an open licence that permits access, use, repurposing, reuse and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.” OER can include full courses/programmes, course materials, modules, student guides, teaching notes, textbooks, research articles, videos, assessment tools and instruments, interactive materials such as simulations and role plays, databases, software, apps (including mobile apps) and any other educationally useful