The Exposure Landscape: Databases and Tools

In order to conduct an exposure assessment for a chemical in any domain, two essential inputs are needed. The first is an algorithm (exposure scenario) with which to calculate an estimate of exposure, the form of which usually depends upon the source and route of exposure being considered. These range from low tier assessments involving simple deterministic calculations involving a single chemical, source, and route, to sophisticated high tier models involving multiple routes, sources and even multiple chemicals if mixtures are being considered. Once the appropriate model is decided upon the second essential is having suitable input data typically taking the form of exposure factors (exposure scenario parameters, consumer habits and practices, transfer coefficients etc.) and chemical concentration data (the frequency and level of chemical occurrence in the source of exposure).

While certain tools and databases have become standard practice in certain domains, a challenge still facing the risk assessor is knowing what model and data source to select for a given exposure assessment. Given the number of models and databases that are currently available, it is desirable to have a central location detailing and documenting these. The landscaping exercise presented in this section is not intended to be exhaustive or a systematic review of the available exposure tools and databases, rather it is an overview of what are considered to be the most commonly used and most useful sources for key consumer products as determined by the task force. The exercise is divided into two categories, data sources and tools.

To help the risk assessor decide what is useful or relevant amongst the available options the data are categorised into: Exposure Algorithms, Habits and Practices Data, Co-use Data, Chemical Occurrence Data, and Chemical Occurrence Data. The source or original reference is provided, as well as some details on the nature of the data. Within the section on tools, a number of additional headings are provided: Product Category, Type of Assessment that can be Performed, Built-in Data/Data Requirements, Regions Covered, Modelling Capabilities, Routes of Exposure Covered, Availability, Occupational or Consumer, and additional Comments. The information in the overview is, in most cases, based upon the experience of users in the task force or on publicly available information from websites or reports describing the listed tools and databases. This task force did not perform an in-depth review or test all the different sources listed and also was not always able to verify the data or information provided. That said, the Landscaping Database is an excellent starting point for selecting relevant tools and databases that are currently available.

It is hoped this effort will constitute the beginnings of a centralised database that will be added to and updated in the future, providing a resource risk assessors can draw from when undertaking an exposure assessment. In the following section, some discussion is provided on the different domains, while the full details of the landscaping exercise are provided in the appendix.