ABSTRACT
Dose-response assessment must draw on all available data sources to assure the best picture of dose-response emerges. Consistency in results among different kinds of studies has always been a source of assurance that a causative effect exists and that there is a dose-response function. Quantification of dose-response for purposes of risk assessment is a relatively new trend, however. The shape of the dose-response function and its slope were drawn from data derived from dogs and the human data used to “calibrate” the curve. Dose-response assessment is generally the weakest and most uncertain part of a risk assessment. Creative thinking applied to dose-response assessment might unearth opportunities for this kind of combination, in which each kind of data has its own particular role to play in the whole. Combining data sets in situations where each plays the same role, where the combination simply expands the amount of data available, surprisingly, is more difficult.
