12th Meeting of the Scientific Group on Methodologies for the Safety Evaluation of Chemicals: Susceptibility to Environmental Hazards

Abstract

The 12th meeting of the Scientific Group on Methodologies for the Safety Evaluation of Chemicals (SGOMSEC) considered the topic of methodologies for determining human and ecosystem susceptibility to environmental hazards. The report prepared at the meeting describes measurement of susceptibility through the use of biological markers of exposure, biological markers of effect, and biomarkers directly indicative of susceptibility of humans or of ecosystems. The utility and validity of these biological markers for the study of susceptibility are evaluated, as are opportunities for developing newer approaches for the study of humans or of ecosystems. For the first time a SGOMSEC workshop also formally considered the issue of ethics in relation to methodology, an issue of particular concern for studies of susceptibility.Environ Health Perspect 1 05(Suppl 4): 699-737 (1997)

Biomarkers and integrated environmental risk assessment: Are there more questions than answers?

“…Factors such as previous exposure to an environmental agent (i.e., imprinting before development), the physiological state of the individual (i.e., starvation, disease state), and developmental or age‐related processes that control pathways that impact genetic expression are some examples of environmental factors that may influence susceptibility (Schlenk 1999). Barrett et al (1997) also highlighted that interindividual variation may occur in the uptake and effects of chemicals, associated with variation both within and between organisms in bioactivation and detoxification enzyme activity, including the activity of the cytochrome P450 enzyme system, cell membrane transporters such as P‐glycoproteins (which may confer multixenobiotic resistance), and DNA repair enzymes.…”

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“…Biomarkers of effect offer the opportunity to provide scientific confirmation of proposed exposure-disease pathways in human populations, since they can be elicited as a result of interaction of the biological system with the environment [20,21]. The increasing demand for information about health risks derived from exposure to complex mixtures calls for the identification of biomarkers to evaluate genotoxic effects associated with occupational and environmental exposure to chemicals, and other potential sources of damage.…”

Biomarkers and Integrated Environmental Risk Assessment: Are There More Questions Than Answers?

“…Factors such as previous exposure to an environmental agent (i.e., imprinting before development), the physiological state of the individual (i.e., starvation, disease state), and developmental or age-related processes that control pathways that impact genetic expression are some examples of environmental factors that may influence susceptibility (Schlenk 1999). Barrett et al (1997) also highlighted that interindividual variation may occur in the uptake and effects of chemicals, associated with variation both within and between organisms in bioactivation and detoxification enzyme activity, including the activity of the cytochrome P450 enzyme system, cell membrane transporters such as P-glycoproteins (which may confer multixenobiotic resistance), and DNA repair enzymes.…”