THE ROLE OF ECOTOXICOLOGY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN EXPOSURE TO CHEMICAL-SUBSTANCES

In the late 1970s new legislation was established in many industrialized countries in order to protect the environment. This has led to the definition of a new branch of science: ecotoxicology. The development of predictive approaches for the hazard assessment of chemical substances has given increased relevance to exposure evaluation. This paper discusses the problems related to the environmental distribution and fate of chemicals and their potential use in the assessment and prediction of exposure of the general population, through air, drinking water and food. Collaboration between toxicologists and ecotoxicologists is urged to improve our capability to manage chemicals.