The use of safety or uncertainty factors in the setting of acute reference doses

A 100-fold safety or uncertainty factor has been used for about 40 years to derive safe daily intakes for humans based on animal studies; the 100-fold factor comprises separate 10-fold factors to allow for species differences and inter-individual variability. Each factor has to allow for toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic differences. Sub-dividing the 10-fold factors into kinetic and dynamic defaults, which when multiplied give a product of 10, offers a number of advantages. The main rationale for this sub-division is so that chemical-specific data can be introduced to replace one or more of the default sub-factors, hence contributing to a chemical-related overall factor. However, sub-division of the 10-fold factors has allowed analysis of the appropriateness of the overall 10-fold defaults, and analysis of special situations, such as infants and children. The establishment of an acute reference dose based on animal studies has to allow for both species differences and inter-individual variability; comparison with the factors used for chronic effects suggests that modification of the usual defaults may be appropriate under certain specific circumstances, but that the usual default of 100 remains appropriate for most cases.