Hazard vs Risk assessment

Too Long To Read (TLDR)

OpenChemFacts :

• currently provides hazard values (effect factors),

• will soo provide risk values (characterization factors).

These metrics are complementary as they ....

🧪Hazard

Hazard refers to the intrinsic potential of a substance to cause harm.

OpenChemFacts provides Effect Factors (EF) for all chemicals. These values express the inherent toxicity of a chemical independent of exposure (more info about the method here). This is illustrated in the interface with the dose–response relationship (cf. Species-Sentivity Distribution curve).

These information help answer such questions :

• How toxic is the substance?

• What concentration causes effects in organisms?

• How does biological response change with dose?

For example a pesticide can be highly toxic (high EF), even if no organism is actually exposed to it.

That is why it's usefull to combine hazard assessment with risk assessment.

⚠️Risk

Risk refers to the likelihood that harm will occur under real-world exposure conditions.

OpenChemFacts will soon provide Characterization Factors (CF) for all chemicals.

Details are available here.

These information help answer such questions :

• How harmful is this chemical to ecosystems if it is emitted into the environment ?

• Which environmental compartments (air, water, soil) will receive most of the pollutant?

• How much of the emitted chemical will actually reach and affect organisms ?