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Arsenic in Drinking Water (1999) / Chapter Skim
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11 Risk Characterization
Pages 299-301

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From page 299...
... However, the subcommittee believes it can provide EPA with an up-to-date summary appraisal of two key elements of the risk-assessment process—hazard identification and dose response—that qualitatively, if not quantitatively, address the protective nature of the current MCL. As the subcommittee discussed in detail elsewhere in this report, there is sufficient evidence from human epidemiological studies in Taiwan, Chile, and Argentina to conclude that ingestion of arsenic in drinking water poses a hazard of cancer of the lung and bladder, in addition to cancer of the skin.
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From page 300...
... With respect to EPA's 1988 risk assessment for arsenic-induced skin cancer in which the multistage Weibull model was used, a sensitivity analysis, within the limits of the available data, suggests that misclassification arising from the ecological-study design and the grouping of exposures would likely have only a modest impact on EPA's risk estimates. Sensitivity analyses applied to male bladder-cancer risk estimated by the multistage Weibull model had a greater impact on results.
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From page 301...
... Some factors, such as poor nutrition and arsenic intake from food, might affect assessment of risk in Taiwan or extrapolation of results in the United States. Upon assessing the available evidence, it is the subcommittee's consensus that the current EPA MCL for arsenic in drinking water of 50 µg/L does not achieve EPA's goal for public health protection and therefore requires downward revision as promptly as possible.
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Key Terms

  • current mcl
  • weibull model
  • arsenic exposure
  • current epa
  • national primary

  • chronic arsenic
  • multistage weibull
  • subcommittee believes
  • primary drinking
  • detail elsewhere

  • human susceptibility
  • statistical power
  • sufficient statistical
  • establish mechanisms
  • water poses

  • arsenic concentrations
  • existing scientific
  • overall purpose
  • human exposure
  • requires downward

  • considers protective
  • formal risk
  • carcinogen risk
  • inorganic chemicals
  • animal cells

  • plausible modes
  • sensitivity analysis
  • safe drinking
  • sensitivity analyses
  • modest impact


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