An overview of the risk assessment of hazardous materials and the role of toxicology.

The chemical risk assessment process and the need for health-based approaches to identify and characterize potential hazardous substances will be discussed. The risk assessment process can be applied to both workplace and environmental settings. Toxicology will be defined and related to the risk assessment process. A brief overview of toxicity screens and tests will be presented in order to help make toxicity data more meaningful. Toxicity data for Halon 1301 replacements and trichloroethylene (TCE) will be presented as examples. The paper will conclude with a description of tri-service toxicology; what it is and what this laboratory provides to the Department of Defense (DOD), industry, and academia.