The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) assesses acute and chronic dietary exposure using a tiered approach for risk assessment. This tiered approach progresses from conservative assumptions for residues utilizing US Tolerances, to more refined exposure estimates when applicable. Depending on the available data, both acute and chronic exposure assessments could move through multiple tiers during an exposure assessment. For example, an acute exposure assessment can move from the first tier, which incorporates the conservative use of tolerance-level residues and assumes “100 % crop treated”, directly to a tier where the data is further refined utilizing residue distributions as input for exposure. Such decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and typically address driver foods first. The US EPA currently relies on the <i>Dietary Exposure Evaluation Model </i>(DEEM) software to conduct pesticide dietary exposure assessments. In addition, CARES NG (Cumulative Aggregate Risk Evaluation System Next Generation) is under consideration as an emerging dietary risk assessment model. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a case study to explore the acute dietary exposure assessment of a registered pesticide previously evaluated through the US EPA’s tiered approach for dietary risk assessment. We will examine the different tools and data that can be used to progress from a conservative to a refined risk assessment using both DEEM and CARES NG exposure models.

Examining US EPA’s tiered approach to dietary risk assessment: A case study

ACS Fall 2021

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