The Use of Statistical Insignificance in the Formulation of Exposure Standards for Toxic Agents
by
Roy E. Albert
University of Cincinnati
Coauthors: Rakesh Shukla

The purpose of exposure standards for toxic agents is to identify concentrations in media such as air, water, and food, to which people are exposed, that will be regarded as safe in the sense that they pose a level of risk which is considered to be of negligible concern. Rakesh Shukla and I at the University of Cincinnati have explored the application of Likelihood Ratio Statistics to the problem of characterizing levels of insignificance in the area of toxic responses.

We have found that the approach could be a useful basis for the formulation of exposure standards in cases where the quantitative manifestations of toxicity at low dose merge with the variability of the natural background of the same metric in the absence of exposure. The paper describes the statistical approach and illustrates its application for carcinogens, where the responses are of the all or none stochastic type, and non-carcinogens, where the responses are non-stochastic and fade away continuously with diminishing dose.

Date received: October 6, 2000