Manganese in the context of an integrated risk and decision process

Current approaches to risk assessment regard it as a process that should embody both health and ecological risks, societal values, and cost-benefit analysis, that should seek the views of affected parties, and that should examine available options more holistically than in the past. Even with a single agent, manganese, the process requires a great breadth of information and keen attention to how all of its different components fit together. An evaluation of exposure variables alone needs to consider contributions from multiple media, their physical forms and pathways such as inhaled fumes and particles, and ingestion of water, food, soil, and dust (especially by children). Endpoints need also to be broadened, especially to include susceptibility across the life cycle and the impact of low-level neurotoxicity on rate of aging. Finally, the pursuit of risk reduction options for manganese should be embedded in a process that clarifies all), the consequences of a particular option, including the raising or lowering of other risks and the full economic consequences.