Human exposure assessment: the birth of a new science

I am honored to have been selected to receive the 1995 Weselowski Award for Career Achievement in Exposure Assessment. When I think back to my friendship with Jerry Weselowski, I remember our discussions in 1991 about the need to define exposure rigorously and quantitatively. In fact, I sent Jerry a letter on that topic--the quantitative definition of exposure--on November 7, 1991. I think it is fitting, therefore, that I select one of the topics in my talk today from that letter. Jerry always welcomed full and open scientific debate and discussion, and I feel that the need to define exposure and to understand what it means is a topic of great importance in exposure assessment. I also want to offer some observations about the importance of our field for the public and the regulatory community and to suggest the directions that exposure assessment might take as it evolves as a profession. Finally, I hope to provide an up-to-date listing of some selected scientific papers that are relevant to our field.