Sec. 22a-1i. Environmental contamination risk assessment by Department of Public Health.
Sec. 22a-1i. Environmental contamination risk assessment by Department of
Public Health. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the
following meanings unless the context clearly denotes otherwise:
(1) "Dose-response assessment" means the quantitative determination of the potency of the toxic agent under study and the incidence of biological effects and disease
in humans and biological models.
(2) "Exposure assessment" means the determination of what exposures to the toxic
agent under study are anticipated or experienced by the population under study.
(3) "Hazard identification" means the quantitative determination of whether the
toxic agent under study can cause adverse effects in individuals or populations under
study.
(4) "Risk assessment" means the use of various databases to estimate the human
health effects of exposure of individuals or populations to various hazardous substances
and situations. The risk assessment process includes, but is not limited to, hazard identification, dose response assessment, exposure assessment and risk characterization. Risk
assessment shall not include normal day-to-day activities conducted by state agencies
mandated under federal or state laws or regulations. Specifically, activities such as environmental permitting shall not be considered to constitute a risk assessment activity,
unless otherwise defined as such in state or federal regulation.
(5) "Risk characterization" means the determination of the estimated population
incidence of the adverse effect anticipated following exposure to the toxic agent under
study.
(b) The Department of Public Health shall be the lead agency responsible for the risk
assessment of human health regarding toxic substances identified in all environmental
media, including, but not limited to, food, drinking water, soil and air.
(c) Risk assessments shall be conducted or reviewed by the Department of Public
Health after the need for such risk assessments has been established by the state agency
responsible for regulation of the given contamination. Such decisions on the need for
risk assessments shall be made in consultation with the Department of Public Health.
Nothing contained in this section shall hinder or dictate the authority of any state agency
to decide when a risk assessment is required.
(P.A. 95-69; 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58.)
History: P.A. 95-257 authorized substitution of Commissioner and Department of Public Health for Commissioner and
Department of Public Health and Addiction Services, effective July 1, 1995.