Exposure science

Exposure science is the study of an organism's (usually human) contact with chemical, physical, biological agents or other health risk (e.g. accidental) occurring in their environments, and advances knowledge of the mechanisms and dynamics of events either causing or preventing adverse health outcomes.[1]

Exposure science plays a fundamental role in the development and application of epidemiology, toxicology, and risk assessment. It provides critical information for protecting human and ecosystem health. Exposure science also has the ability to play an effective role in other fields, including environmental regulation, urban, traffic safety[2] and ecosystem planning, and disaster management; in many cases these are untapped opportunities. Exposure science links human and ecologic behavior to environmental processes in such a way that the information generated can be used to mitigate or prevent future adverse exposures.

— Applications of Exposure Science[3]

Exposure science can be thought of most simply as the study of stressors, receptors, and their contacts in the context of space and time. For example, ecosystems are receptors for such stressors as mercury, which may cascade from the ecosystem to populations to individuals in the ecosystem because of concentration and accumulation in the food web, which lead to exposure of humans and other species. As the stressor (mercury in this case) is absorbed into the bodies of organisms, it comes into contact with tissues and organs. It is important to recognize that exposure science applies to any level of biologic organization ecologic, community, or individual—and, at the individual level, encompasses external exposure (outside the person or organism), internal exposure (inside the person or organism), and dose.[4] A recent landmark study conducted by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization showed that application of exposure science to new areas, in this case occupational health, can produce novel knowledge for policy and practice when it estimated based on a large-scale, global exposure databases (2,300 surveys) that exposure to long working hours is the occupational risk factor with the largest attributable burden of disease.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Committee on Human Environmental Exposure Science in the 21st Century; Board on Environmental Studies Toxicology; Division on Earth Life Studies; National Research Council (2012). Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy. United States National Research Council. p. 19. doi:10.17226/13507. ISBN 978-0-309-26468-6. PMID 24901193.
  2. ↑ Vanparijs, J (2015). "Exposure measurement in bicycle safety analysis: A review of the literature". Accident Analysis & Prevention. 84: 9–19. doi:10.1016/j.aap.2015.08.007. PMID 26296182.
  3. ↑ "3: Applications of Exposure Science". Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy. National Academies Press (US). 2012.
  4. ↑ Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy, Committee on Human and Environmental Exposure Science in the 21st Century; Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology; Division on Earth and Life Studies; National Research Council
  5. ↑ Pega, Frank; Nafradi, Balint; Momen, Natalie; Ujita, Yuka; Streicher, Kai; Prüss-Üstün, Annette; Technical Advisory Group (2021). "Global, regional, and national burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours for 194 countries, 2000–2016: A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury". Environment International. 154: 106595. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106595. PMC 8204267. PMID 34011457.


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