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Understanding Risks to Susceptible Subpopulations
Additional Information
Summary
Some individuals are more susceptible to environmental exposures due to intrinsic factors such as life stage or genetics and acquired factors such as preexisting disease or nutrition. EPA’s Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences research is focused on characterizing childhood and geriatric exposures. Understanding how these potentially susceptible subpopulations come into contact with environmental contaminants is critical to understanding their potential for elevated risks. EPA seeks to identify and understand the factors that influence children’s exposures and exposures to elderly Americans, so that this information may be integrated into future risk assessments and environmental policy decisions.
Research Areas
Aging - EPA applies an environmental public health paradigm to better understand relationships between pollution sources, human exposures, internal dose, and adverse health outcomes for the rapidly expanding population of older adults. Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences research is directed towards understanding aging-related changes in activity, exposure, and pharmacokinetic factors within this diverse population. This research reduces uncertainties in risk assessment through understanding and elucidating the fundamental determinants of exposure and dose for older adults. Details of AgingChildren - EPA has pledged to increase its efforts to provide a safe and healthy environment for children by ensuring that all EPA regulations, standards, policies, and risk assessments take into account special childhood vulnerabilities to environmental chemicals. Research conducted by EPA to understand the exposure, susceptibility, and differential risks of children to pesticides and other chemicals in their everyday environments addresses the requirements of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 and the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996. The Food Quality Protection Act requires that risk assessments be based on exposure data that are of high quality and high quantity or on exposure models using factors that are based on existing, reliable data. EPA conducts research to address data gaps by providing critical measurement data and models to characterize activities and exposure factors that contribute to children’s aggregate and cumulative exposures. Details of Children