PNNL

Abstract

Since the landmark report Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children (NRC 1993), children at all stages of development, from fertilization through postnatal maturation, have explicitly been identified as an area of emphasis in human health risk assessments. Exposure to drugs or chemicals at any point in development has the potential for causing irreversible changes that can be unique to each stage of development (Grabowski and Daston 1983; Rodier 1978; Wilson 1973). While exposures of a developing embryo or fetus are mediated by the mother, postnatal exposures consist of maternal influences via breastfeeding as well as environmental factors (Figure 1). As a result, risk assessments for developmental toxicity must consider the sources as well as timing of potential exposures to adequately protect children when they may be the most exposed or the most sensitive to adverse consequences (NRC 1993).