Chemical mixtures: toxicologic interactions and risk assessment

There is increasing public concern regarding health risks from multiple chemical exposures and combined exposure to chemical and nonchemical stressors (cumulative risk). These exposures may involve more than one exposure pathway and typically vary over time with respect to the total exposure level and the relative proportions of component chemicals. Research on toxicology and risk assessment of multichemical exposures is complicated further because toxicologic interactions vary with exposure sequence, duration and route, as well as with total dose, relative chemical proportions, and endpoint.

Impact/Purpose

The purpose of this chapter was to provide a brief introduction to key principles of toxicological and risk assessment of chemical mixtures. It is well known to mixtures researchers and risk assessors that literature on either the toxicology or risk assessment of chemical mixtures or combined exposure to chemical and nonchemical stressors is hard to access, as searches tend to produce voluminous citations, but few that are relevant. Our objective was to create a comprehensive compendium of relevant literature, within the space limitations imposed by the editors and publishers of the volume for which the book is intended. Our focus was on publications that provide either novel approaches and insights or informative summaries and reviews of concepts and data and point the interested reader to important, key, refences that help form the current state-of-the-art knowledge base.

Citation

Schaaper, J., R. Hertzberg, J. Simmons, M. Mumtaz, AND G. Rice. Chemical mixtures: toxicologic interactions and risk assessment. Chapter 37, Academic Press Incorporated, Orlando, FL, 1:401-414, (2020). [DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-813724-6.00037-2]

DOI: Chemical mixtures: toxicologic interactions and risk assessment