SESC9261 — Introduction to Environmental Risk Assessment

COURSE COORDINATION

Coordinator :	Dr Daniela Leonte [Bio]
Contact Details :	Tel : (+612)938-54744   •   Fax : (+612)938-56190   •   Email : d.leonte@unsw.edu.au

DELIVERY DETAILS		[ Current Schedules and Locations ]

Mode	Session	Type
Off-campus	1	session

COURSE DETAILS
Units of Credit :	6
Description :	The course covers in detail the quantitative process of analysing and evaluating long-term health risks to humans due to environmental exposure to chemical hazards. The nature of environmental pollutants and basic properties of chemicals are reviewed, and their use to estimate the transport and fate of chemicals in the environment is demonstrated. Toxicological emphasis is placed on differentiating cancer from non-cancer causing chemicals; a case study in physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling is used to show how human variability is accounted for in risk assessment from a toxicological viewpoint. Approaches to estimate exposure either from direct measurements, modelling or through the use of exposure data from exposure factors handbooks are presented, together with dose and risk equations, and subsequently used to estimate health risks for different individual and population exposure situations. The case of chemical mixtures is discussed as an extension. Monte Carlo and Bootstrap methods are introduced to assess the uncertainty and variability in health risk analysis, and how this influences the risk estimates. During the course students use quantitative, multimedia risk analysis software, to estimate health risks in various real-life problems. The final lecture looks critically at what the science of risk analysis can offer to the environmental risk management process and highlights some of the challenges associated with communicating scientific risk results to the public and decision-makers. It also discusses qualitative methods to assess environmental exposure and its associated health risks, and looks at the advantages and limitations of quantitative vs. qualitative tools in this area.
Objectives :	At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to: Describe the role of health risk assessment in the environmental risk management process, in the context of long-term environmental exposure to chemical hazards. Apply the steps of the health risk assessment process to estimate screening-level and probabilistic risks to human health in a real situation involving the presence of hazardous chemicals in the environment. Use multimedia environmental risk assessment software to estimate health risks in various real-life problems. Understand the differences between quantitative and qualitative methods for health risk assessment and critically discuss their capabilities and limitations. Understand the role of risk communication in health risk assessment and management.
Prescribed text :	The course uses a number of relevant eBooks from the UNSW library, which can be freely accessed by students. These are listed in the SESC9261 course profile.

ASSESSMENT
Details Due Date Weight Assignment one: Lecture summary notes and critique (details in class) On-going 20% Assignment two: Multimedia health risk assessment for chemical mixture End of Week 12 30% Three hours, open book, final exam TBC 50%

COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1 :	Introduction to Risk Assessment in Public Health; The Risk Assessment – Risk Management Paradigm
Week 2 :	The nature of environmental pollutants; Chemicals and chemical exposures; The elements of human health risk assessment; Instructions on accessing ARAMS – multimedia risk analysis software
Week 3 :	Toxicology I: Basic human toxicology; Cancer Causation (Epidemiology, Animal Bioassays, Other Methods); Carcinogenesis Mechanisms and Risk Assessment; Chemicals as carcinogens vs. non-carcinogens in risk assessment
Week 4 :	Toxicology II: Dose-Response Assessment; Introduction to physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models and illustrative case study
Week 5 :	Exposure modelling I: Identifying pollutant sources; Determining exposure pathways and environmental fate; Measuring or estimating concentrations; Identifying exposed populations; Uncertainty in characterising exposure
Week 6 :	Exposure modelling II: Aspects of exposure modelling; Concentration, exposure and dose models; Characterising exposure models (description, inputs, processes and outputs); From exposure to dose (direct measures; using pharmacokinetic data)
Week 7 :	Risk Characterisation: Dose and risk equations; Point estimates for individual and population exposure and risk
Week 8 :	Uncertainty and variability in health risk estimates and their propagation in risk analyses; Introduction to Monte Carlo and Bootstrap methods
Week 9 :	Multimedia health risk analysis under point-estimate and probabilistic frameworks for chemical mixtures; Using ARAMS
Week 10 :	Practical session on multimedia probabilistic health risk assessment using ARAMS
Week 11 :	Qualitative and Quantitative Risk Analysis; Why Risk Assessment is not Risk Management
Week 12 :	Risk Communication: Risk perception vs. risk science

LEARNING RESOURCES
The University of New South Wales provides a range of resources to help students develop their skills and to realise their full potential. The Learning Centre, located at the entrance to the Library provides guidance material, which is also available on-line.
	The University also provides academic orientation programs called MyStart and ReStart for both new and returning students to help them in their transitions into academia..