Interindividual Variability

Abstract

Intrinsic variability across the human population is associated with variable responses to environmental stressors. Understanding both the sources and the magnitude of the variability is a key challenge for scientists and for decision makers. Understanding such variations has long been a key consideration for those tasked with risk-based decisions. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (the Academies) Standing Committee on Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions (ESEH), sponsored by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), held its second workshop on interindividual variability on September 30 and October 1, 2015, in Washington, DC. The workshop highlighted state-of-the-art tools for studying variations. These tools include in vitro toxicology methods using highly diverse human cell lines, in vivo methods using highly diverse animal populations, and epidemiologic analytical approaches. The workshop focused on interindividual variability due to intrinsic differences in responses to chemical exposures rather than on variability due to differences in exposure.