General Factors of the Korean Exposure Factors Handbook

Risk assessment considers the situations and characteristics of the exposure environment and host. Various physiological variables of the human body reflects the characteristics of the population that can directly influence risk exposure. Therefore, identification of exposure factors based on the Korean population is required for appropriate risk assessment. It is expected that a handbook about general exposure factors will be used by professionals in many fields as well as the risk assessors of the health department. The process of developing the exposure factors handbook for the Korean population will be introduced in this article, with a specific focus on the general exposure factors including life expectancy, body weight, surface area, inhalation rates, amount of water intake, and soil ingestion targeting the Korean population. The researchers used national databases including the Life Table and the 2005 Time Use Survey from the National Statistical Office. The anthropometric study of size in Korea used the resources provided by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards. In addition, direct measurement and questionnaire surveys of representative samples were performed to calculate the inhalation rate, drinking water intake, and soil ingestion.