Avaliação de riscos como ferramenta para a vigilância ambiental em Saúde

Abstract

Risk assessment is becoming an important tool in environmental health surveillance. Historical aspects and the principles of its application, taking as example situations involving chemical substances, are presented in this article. The basic steps, which comprise this approach, are described: hazard identification; dose-response assessment; exposure assessment;and risk characterization. Situations in which risk assessment can and should be applied in environmental health surveillance are discussed. The use of risk assessment as an effective tool constitutes a challenge that needs to be contextualized and based on integrated and participatory approaches.