What is a an acceptable (E.g. EPAs “One-in-a-Million”) Risk?
According to EPA, single pollutants that are likely to cause cancer are generally of concern if they exceed a “one in a million” risk of cancer over a lifetime of exposure. One-in-a-million is thus considered an acceptable risk of cancer for a single pollutant. The average person living in the US today is exposed to hundreds of toxic chemicals everyday by eating food, drinking water, using consumer products and just by breathing. Many of these toxic chemicals are also likely to cause cancer. To protect public health we need to keep the public’s exposure to single pollutants below “one-in-a-million”, because people are exposed to so many cancer-causing agents in their lifetimes. Using a “one-in a-million” risk level as a guidepost to protect public health can also help address the uncertainty we have about a toxic chemical’s potential for other serious–but yet unknown–health effects such as birth defects, reproductive system impacts and, nervous system damage among many others. Diesel
