Hair Analysis Panel Discussion: Section 7.0,
Figure 7-1

Error processing SSI file

Figure 7-1. Evaluation and Solution of Environmental and Occupational Health Problems: Critical Analysis in Practice¹

Model: Cause-Effect

Source

Exposure

Effect

Indicators of exposure and effects

Substances known to be present at site

Potential dose

External dose

Internal dose

"Abnormality"

Disease or other health effect

Possible detectable or measurable parameters
(examples)

Inventories of raw materials, byproducts, and final products

Concentrations in air, soil, water, and surface wipe samples

Personal air samples, wipe samples of skin, hair analysis; dosimetry

Concentrations in blood, urine, and other body tissues and fluids; dosimetry

Bio-markers
or other indicators

Bio-markers or other indicators

Type of assessment

Document review

Environmental

Biological

Biological and other

I
S
S
U
E
S

Model

• Hypothesis or problem statement clearly defined
• Scientific plausibility (e.g.,toxicity, biokinetics, relationship between time of exposure and time of assessment)
• Motives and desired results

• application of scientific methods to research theoretical questions
• application of available scientific knowledge to provide answers to questions from the public

Public health criteria and study design

• Selected parameters to be measured are valid with respect to the model
• Interpretation possible (e.g., dose-response relationship, population norms, intra- and interindividual variability)
• Relevance of interpretation to the problem statement (e.g., prevention possible) or to questions from the public (e.g., predictive value, risk communication)
• Feasibility (technical feasibility and cost feasibility)
• Timeliness
• Ethics

Collection
and handling

• Contamination
• Stability during transport or storage
• Preparation methods (e.g., cleaning, digestion)

Laboratory
methods

• Validity, reliability, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, specificity
• Quality control (proficiency tests, coefficient of variation)

¹Dr. Kawamoto provided this schematic following the meeting, as a work in progress, as a visual display of the various concepts presented as part of the panel discussions. It is an expanded version of a hand-drawn figure presented at the meeting.

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