Aggregate Exposure Pathways in Support of Risk Assessment

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health Sciences
• Toxicology
• Exposure Science

Background:

• Risk assessment is evolving from single chemical-outcome relationships to complex interactions of multiple stressors.
• Understanding the mechanisms linking chemical and non-chemical stressors to adverse outcomes is crucial for human and ecosystem health.
• The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) framework provides mechanistic insights into toxicity.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce the Aggregate Exposure Pathway (AEP) framework for organizing exposure data.
• Discuss the integration of AEP and AOP frameworks.
• Enhance confidence in traditional and cumulative risk assessment approaches.

Main Methods:

• The study discusses the conceptual integration of the AEP and AOP frameworks.
• AEP framework aims to make exposure data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable).
• AEP facilitates data organization, gap identification, data repurposing, and model interoperability.

Main Results:

• AEP framework aids in organizing continuous exposure information.
• AEP helps identify data gaps to focus research efforts.
• AEP optimizes the use and repurposing of existing exposure data.
• AEP facilitates interoperability among predictive exposure models.

Conclusions:

• Integrating AEP and AOP frameworks can significantly improve mechanistic understanding in risk assessment.
• This integration supports more robust traditional and cumulative risk assessments.
• The AEP framework enhances the utility and accessibility of exposure science data.