Exposure Assessment

Exposure assessment is the process of measuring or estimating the intensity, frequency, and duration of human or other population exposures to risk agents. Exposures may occur in a variety of ways, such as through ingestion (e. g., eating fish contaminated with mercury), dermal contact (e. g., handling toxic substances), or inhalation (e. g., breathing air contaminated by industrial emissions). The appropriate methods and units to be used for exposure assessment depend on the risk agent and pathways for exposure, the level of aggregation adopted for the assessment, and many other factors. For instance, the amount of material ingested is often used as a measure of exposure to toxic contaminants in food, the speed and level of flood water have been used as measures of exposure to dam failure, and the ratio of mosquitoes to human population has been used as a measure of exposure to malaria.