EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA 230-09-90-082
September 1990
Policy, Planning, And Evaluation (PM-221)
Understanding
Environmental
Health Risks And
Reducing Exposure
Highlights Of A
Citizen's Guide
Printed on Recycled Paper
Risk Communication Series
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How Can You Find Out Whether Your
Environment Is Harmful?
Every day the news media tell
us about the harmful effects of
hazardous substances in our
environment. For the con-
cerned citizen, these media
statements often create more
questions than they answer.
You may ask these questions:
How many people are
likely to be exposed to
hazardous substances,
and will these exposures
make them sick?
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What is the government doing to reduce my exposure?
What actions can I take on my own to reduce my exposure?
Scientists have developed ways to assess how many people may be
exposed to hazardous substances and their risks from those exposures.
The next two pages describe these methods.
Federal and state governments use information about risks to develop
regulations for reducing your exposure. Page 4 describes the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency's (EPA's) role in developing and enforcing these
environmental regulations.
At the community level, both government and nongovernmental programs
have been developed to reduce your exposure to hazardous substances.
And, on a personal level, you can change habits to reduce your exposure
even more. Pages 6 and 7 describe community and personal actions to
reduce your exposure to hazardous substances.
This flyer should begin to answer your questions about hazardous sub-
stances in your environment, but you may want to know more. EPA has
prepared a 125-page guidebook to help people understand environmental
risks so they can make informed decisions about their exposure to hazardous
substances. The guidebook also contains a list of government and non-
governmental sources of additional information on hazardous substances.
To order the guidebook fill out and return the request form at the bottom of
page 7.
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How Does EPA Estimate Your
Exposures to Hazardous Substances?
Hazardous substances come
from man-made sources such
as commercial facilities that
make, treat, store, use, or dis-
pose of hazardous substances;
sewage and water treatment
plants; and consumer products
such as gasoline, household
cleaners, pesticides, and paint
solvents. Hazardous sub-
stances also can come from
natural sources such as natu-
rally occurring minerals or gases
and from naturally occurring
pesticides in plants used forfood.
Hazardous substances can be released routinely, for example, during nor-
mal operations of a factory, water-treatment plant, or other government or
commercial enterprise and during normal use of a car or a pesticide.
Hazardous substances also can be released accidentally, for example,
during fires, explosions, and transportation accidents.
Hazardous substances are transported by many different pathways through
the air, water, soil, or food to get to you.
Transport of benzene from gasoline
to air near pump
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EPA needs to know the iden-
tity of a hazardous substance,
the type of release, and the
pathway to your environment
before estimating the concen-
tration of a hazardous sub-
stance in your environment.
EPA either measures the con-
centration directly or uses
mathematical models to esti-
mate it. Because so many
substances could be hazard-
ous, however, EPA has done
this for only some substances in your environment.
Your exposure depends on how much of a hazardous substance you take
into your body when breathing, eating, or drinking. EPA estimates your
exposure by multiplying the concentration of the hazardous substance in your
environment by conversion factors for each type of exposure such as the
amount of water drunk per day.
Measurements
Models
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How Does EPA Estimate Your Risk of Illness?
You already have some risk, or chance, of getting any illness during your
lifetime. Your increased risk of illness is the likelihood that exposure to a
hazardous substance will increase your chance of getting that illness.
Some hazardous substances cause harmful effects at smaller exposures
than others. EPA uses dose-response relationships to estimate how much
increased exposure to a hazardous substance increases the risks of various
illnesses.
Of course, scientists cannot perform experiments on humans. Some human
information is available (for example, forworkers exposed to benzene on the
job), but scientists usually rely on animal experiments to give information for
dose-response relationships.
EPA computes increased risk of illness in terms of the number of extra cases
of an Illness expected in a population. Multiplying the number of extra
cases expected for each unit of exposure (estimated using the dose-
response relationship) by people's actual exposure (see discussion on page
3) gives the number of cases predicted for that population.
Extra Cases of Illness = Cases for Each Unit E ure
of Exposure ^
EPA's risk-of-illness estimates are
only rough estimates of the human
health effects. This is because sci-
entists lack complete information
about human exposures to hazard-
ous substances and about how these
substances actually harm human
cells.
EPA scientists make adjustments to the risk-of-illness calculations to be
sure they do not underestimate the number of illnesses that would occur
from an exposure. That way, regulations that EPA develops based on these
estimates provide an extra level of protection of human health.
One way to judge the seriousness of a risk is by the size of your exposure
and the associated health risks. But people also consider other charac-
teristics of the risk such as whether it is voluntary or involuntary. For
example, two risks may be the same size, but you may be more willing to
tolerate one because it is associated with an activity you can control (such
as your job) versus the other, which is associated with an activity you cannot
control (such as a pesticide residue in food).
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_ What Is the Government Doing to Reduce
^ Your Exposure to Hazardous Substances?
In the past two decades, the U.S. Congress has passed many laws to protect
the environment and people from exposure to hazardous substances. EPA
administers most laws concerning pollution in the outdoor environment and
provides information on pollutants in indoor air. EPA's responsibilities
include
setting and enforcing standards under environmental laws,
developing and testing new methods to reduce the sources of environ-
mental risks,
requiring the cleanup of sites where damage from hazardous sub-
stances already has occurred,
administering programs to provide information to the public and busi-
nesses about regulatory requirements, environmental programs, pro-
cedures to reduce exposures to hazardous substances, and the health
effects of hazardous substances,
assisting state and local governments in planning for emergencies, and
coordinating the efforts of local government groups.
To set and enforce standards under environmental laws, EPA uses the
information from exposure and risk of illness estimates (described on pages
3 and 4 of this flyer). Protecting people and the environment from damage
caused by pollution to the air, soil, surface water, and ground water is the
major focus of these environmental laws. They cover sources such as
factories, power plants, cars, hazardous waste facilities.
Government actions both provide benefits and impose costs. For example,
people and the environment benefit because the risk of harmful effects is
reduced, but regulations can cause increased prices of some goods and
services and reduced employment in some industries.
EPA considers these and other benefits and costs when setting standards
focusing on the environmental problems that pose the most significant
and serious risks. But broader social concerns often driven by public
perceptions of the seriousness of risks also play a role in EPA's
decisionmaking process.
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What Is Your Community Doing to Reduce
Your Exposure to Hazardous Substances?
Members of
a typical LEPC
One example of what
communities are doing
is through the Local
Emergency Planning
Committee (LEPC).
This local group is
charged with develop-
ing a plan for evacua-
tion or emergency re-
sponse to an accident
involving hazardous
substances. LEPCs
were established under
federal law in 1986, and
there are now about
4,000 LEPCs nationwide. LEPCs include representatives from all parts of
the community, including volunteercitizen representatives. You can volun-
teerto serve on your community's LEPC. The chemical industry is actively
involved with LEPCs and often provides technical assistance, information,
and equipment.
In addition to developing an emergency plan for the community, LEPCs can
provide public access to information about
hazardous substances that are used and stored by facilities in the
community,
accidental releases that have occurred in the community, and
routine releases that are occurring in the community,
The LEPC's ability to focus community attention on the releases and
inventories of chemicals at facilities in the community has forced some
facilities to rethink their chemical housekeeping practices.
In addition to your LEPC, other organizations or agencies in your commu-
nity, such as local environmental and public health agencies, provide helpful
services and information. You and your neighbors can use these resources
to organize other activities to reduce hazardous substances in your commu-
nity. You might want to organize a household hazardous waste collection
program or information programs aimed at problems in your community.
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What Can You Do to Reduce Your _
Exposure to Hazardous Substances?
You can take various actions on your own to reduce your exposure to
hazardous substances. Indoor exposures to radon, asbestos, indoor
tobacco smoke, lead in paint, lead in drinking water, and others may pose
dangers to you and your fanilv ~-*:-' ---- *; --- ' »«~~~~ ~~ ..-«e-->r,,j
how to reduce them. T_ _.. _
Many consumer products such as ho j^_^r LIT^" pesti-
cides contain hazardous substances. Select and use tnese products
carefully or use less hazardous alternatives. Read labels and follow
instructions for proper use.
If you have an accident with a pesticide or other hazardous substance,
consult the label for first aid information. Then call your local poison
control center (get the number from the inside cover of your telephone
book) for further instructions.
You also can change habits such as living or working around environmental
tobacco smoke, spending time outdoors when air quality is poor, or swim-
ming in or eating fish from contaminated water bodies.
Diet is important for two reasons. First, removing surface residues from
vegetables and trimming the fat from meat and poultry products can reduce
your risk of exposure to pesticides. SeconoV^oplerwho eat healthy diets
are less susceptible to harm from hazardou&jsgbrStalijpes.
Summary "* * * c*
*~ *
Regulatory and other actions by federal, sfet^'g^ local governments
reduce your exposure to hazardous substancesiRShSenvironment. Through
individual and community actions you can cp ^v^ij^ore to prevent the
harmful effects of such exposures. Following- |e2uj3^§stions outlined here
is a first step if you are interested in gettirrCTEiSAss 425-page guidebook
that provides more information, please
below. ,- ,.> r
Request Form
the order form
'A-
Please send me a copy of Hazardous Substances&i Ou?TEnvironment: A
Citizen's Guide to Understanding Health Risks an$fleducing Exposure,
EPA-230-09-90-081. ** $
Name: Mail request to:
Address- Public Information Center PM-211B
' U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
City: 401 M Street, SW
State: Zip: Washington, DC 20460
Or call (202) 382-2080 or (202) 475-7751
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