Human Health Research Program Multi-year Plan

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EPA's mission is to protect public health and safeguard the natural environment; risk management is an integral part of this mission. The Human Health Research Program (HHRP) Multi-year Plan (MYP) describes the strategic approach for research to improve human health risk assessment-risk management (RA-RM) processes at the Agency. This MYP, developed by the Agency's Office of Research and Development (ORD), outlines a mission-oriented research effort to provide broadly applicable, fundamental scientific information and tools that will improve the many problem-driven RA-RM decisions throughout the Agency's Program and Regional Offices.

The main objective of the HHRP is to reduce uncertainties in the extrapolations necessary for the risk assessment process by providing a greater understanding of the fundamental determinants of exposure and dose and the basic biological changes that follow exposure to environmental toxicants. The HHRP focuses on research to develop mechanistic data to reduce uncertainties in risk assessment, particularly as it relates to exposure-dose-response extrapolation; principles for characterizing cumulative risk, especially extrapolation from single chemicals to multiple chemicals, stressors, and pathways; and research to protect susceptible subpopulations, such as children and the elderly. ORD human health research also will conduct research to develop tools and approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of risk management decisions.

Within the scope of this MYP, EPA will advance its long-term goals of risk assessors and risk managers using

ORD's methods, models or data to reduce uncertainty in risk assessment using mechanistic (or mode of action) information;
ORD's methods, models, and data to characterize aggregate and cumulative risk in order to manage risk of humans exposed to multiple environmental stressors;
ORD's methods, models, and data to characterize and provide adequate protection for susceptible subpopulations; and
ORD's methods and models to evaluate the effectiveness of risk management decisions.

Human Health Research Program Multi-year Plan

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