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Previous by Date: Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical exposure and toxicity Date: Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 9:29:09 AM Author: Monona Rossol <0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU> |
Next by Date: Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical exposure and toxicity Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2022 17:28:55 +0000 Author: Monona Rossol |
> >Ethanol and plutonium? Really? Lots of data on both.
Yes, but I was thinking about the public perception of the hazards of these chemicals, which is not well connected to the data available, but rather generated by discussions of speculative exposure scenarios.
An example of this is when I was starting out in EHS in the 1980"s, plutonium was famous as "the most toxic chemical in the world". This designation was based on a very specific scenario - a nuclear war that spread plutonium dust internationally, leading to many lung cancers as the beta emitter were inhaled. We don"t need a nuclear explosion to expose the global population to ethanol through many different exposure routes and at many different levels. However, the public perception of those risks have led to quite different regulatory schemes for those two chemicals.
I know that you have made the point over the years that well known hazards of ingredients of some art products are ignored based on optimistic assumptions about the likely exposures during the use of the art products. So the availability of data is not the only factor impacting the public perception of chemical risks. So my overall point is that public perception of risk is not likely to be changed by increased toxicity data.
I believe that the original question (Is ""There are many tens of thousands of chemicals in use, but only a small percentage have been tested for toxicity." true?) is intended to raise students" awareness that the public's assumption that "they wouldn"t let me use this if it was dangerous" is not well-founded.
- Ralph
Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
ralph**At_Symbol_Here**rstuartcih.org
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