Advancing quantitative hazard banding using expanded probabilistic reference doses and high-throughput screening data for preliminary hazard assessment
Journal
NAM Journal
Journal Volume
1
ISSN
3050-6204
Date Issued
2025-03-08
Author(s)
Yu-Jia Yeh
Abstract
• A quantitative hazard banding framework is developed using recently expanded datasets. • pRfD-based hazard bands effectively represent chemical hazard severity levels. • Endocrine-based banding correlates with specific hazards but not general toxicity. • Expanded pRfD and qHTS datasets improve hazard characterization for data-poor chemicals. Data unavailability in health reference values poses a significant challenge in chemical risk assessment. Hazard banding (HB) offers a practical solution by categorizing chemicals into bands that represent increasing levels of health hazard. However, the strength and validity of these bands are often based on health-based guidance values from small sample sizes due to data scarcity. This study aims to develop quantitative hazard bandings using an expanded dataset of probabilistic reference dose values (pRfD) and endocrine-related quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) data. We hypothesize that quantitative hazard bandings can accurately reflect chemical hazards' nature and severity. pRfD values ( n = 10,145) and oral equivalent doses (OEDs) from qHTS data ( n = 3,520) were categorized into quintiles to derive five hazard bands (HB pRfD and HB qHTS_endo ). We evaluated the relationships between the assigned hazard bands and GHS health statements using heatmap and correlation analyses. Our findings suggest that HB pRfD effectively captures the inherent severity of chemical hazards, while HB qHTS_endo shows lower confidence in hazard characterization. Despite challenges with the discordance between animal toxicity data and qHTS data, integrating in vitro mechanistic evidence with animal data may improve predictive accuracy for higher-tier toxicity endpoints.
SDGs
Publisher
Elsevier
Type
journal article