Protocol for the Derivation of Environmental and Human ... - CCME

Receptor/critical receptor: A receptor is the person or organism
exposed to a chemical. For human health risk assessment, it is
common to define a critical receptor as the person expected to
experience the most severe exposure (due to age, sex, diet,
lifestyle, etc.) or most severe effects (due to state of health,
genetic disposition, sex, age, etc.) as a result of that exposure.
Regolith: The unconsolidated mantle of weathered rock and soil
overlying solid rock.
Remediation: The management of a contaminated site to prevent,
minimize, or mitigate damage to human health or the
environment. Remediation may include both direct physical
actions (e.g., removal, destruction, and containment of
contaminants) and institutional controls (e.g., zoning
designations or orders).
Respiration: Metabolic processes leading to the production of carbon
dioxide from reduced organic substrates.
Risk: In this protocol, risk is a measure of both the severity of health
effects from exposure to a substance and the probability of its
occurrence. Risk may involve quantitative extrapolation from
animals to humans or from high dose/short exposure time to low
dose/long exposure time. Risk may consider potency
(physical/chemical properties, biological reactivity),
susceptibility (metabolic activation, repair mechanisms, age, sex,
hormonal factors, immunological status), level of exposure
(sources, concentration, initiating events, routes, pathways), and
adverse health effects (nature, severity, onset, reversibility).
Risk analysis: The process of risk assessment, management, and
communication. In addition to the scientific considerations
involved in risk assessment, risk analysis considers such factors
as risk acceptability, public perception of risk, socio-economic
impacts, benefits, and technical feasibility.
Risk assessment: A procedure designed to determine the qualitative
aspects of hazard identification, and usually a quantitative
determination of the level of risk based on deterministic or
probabilistic techniques.
Risk estimation: Estimate of the level of risk involving statistical analysis
of toxicological and epidemiological data and of the level of
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