Animals as Sentinels of Environmental Health Hazards (1991) / Chapter Skim
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7. Selection and Application of Animal Sentinel Systems in Risk Assessment
7. Selection and Application of Animal Sentinel Systems in Risk Assessment
Pages 121-130
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From page 121... ...
Animal sentinel systems have been most useful in general environmental monitoring, in assessing exposure of monitored organisms and their consumers, in assessing bioavailability of contaminants, and in assessing ecologic risk; in these applications, data from animal sentinels can often be used quantitatively. Animal sentinel systems have potential value as early warning systems for new hazards, as indicators of potential human eyposure to complex mixtures or in complex environments, and as monitors of the effectiveness of remediation measures or other environmental management actions; in these applications, data from animal sentinels are usually used qualitatively, but there is at least a potential for semiquantitative assessments.
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From page 122... ...
Those circumstances include the following: · Accumulated chemicals—cases in which the agent under investigation is persistent and stored in animal tissues, so a sentinel animal could serve as a sampling and averaging device. · Complex mixtures—cases in which humans are exposed to complex or poorly characterized mixtures of chemicals.
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From page 123... ...
Animalmonitoring programs can be used in hazard identification, exposure assessment, or risk characterization (see Chapter 6~. In situ monitoring programs can enable researchers to assess bioavailability of contaminants, can provide surrogate measures of potential human exposures, or can enable researchers and risk managers to determine the efficacy of remediation measures taken at sites determined to be hazardous.
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From page 124... ...
124 ANlhL4LS AS SENTINELS TABLE 7-1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Animal Sentinel Systems for Risk Assessment Characteristic of System Epidemiologic Studies in Wildlife and Fish Epidemiologic Studies in Domestic Animals In Situ Field Studies r Availability Plentiful; Plentiful; Can select Can select of animals diversity of limited diver- desirable desirable species sity of spe- species species cues Existence of baseline data for disease occurence Limited Yes, from existing disease surveillance systems plus available medical records Yes for laboratory animals; no for many others Yes Existence of Limited to a Very limited Not. NA baseline data few existing exposure for exposures monitoring data programs Knowledge Unknown Usually un- Well defined Well defined of total pop- known, but ulation at defined in risk some circum stances Ability to Usually none Partial; can Good; mim- Good control for be done by ics laboratory potentially study design setting confounding or during factors data analysis Exposure route; comparison with humans Usually different Often very .
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From page 125... ...
The most effective animal sentinel systems are those in which data are collected by the researchers themselves according to a designed protocol. In other cases, specimens or observations might be available from farmers, veterinarians, veterinary schools, diagnostic laboratories, disease registries, food-monitoring programs, hunters, or state and federal agencies responsible for environmental quality, fish and wildlife monitoring, or manage
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From page 126... ...
areas. Selection of appropriate control locations and populations requires careful and often complex, multidimensional comparisons of sample locations and populations, to minimize the potential for confounding and bias.
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From page 127... ...
One of the more common applications of GIS technology relevant to the use of animals as sentinels is in resource management, specifically in defining wildlife habitat. Placement of food, water sources, and terrestrial components in prescribed forms and relationships establishes the habitat for a particular wildlife species.
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From page 128... ...
The trend toward greater use of GIS technology will continue as computer hardware and software improve, GIS technology develops, and our understanding of the complexity of environmental issues increases. For it to be effectively integrated into programs that use animals as sentinels, a substantial commitment must be made to identify uses of the data generated, to complement consistent systems and data management, and to incorporate existing data bases and networks into the system.
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From page 129... ...
PROGRAlLf INTEGRATION Many existing programs have been designed for specific purposes, and the resulting data have been used sparingly. In some cases, different programs collect data on the same contaminants and in the same areas but are poorly integrated.
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From page 130... ...
Another way to extend the value of existing programs is by archiving or banking specimen material from monitoring programs for analysis when new contaminants are discovered or new analytic methods developed. A third desirable form of program integration is the integration of data from animal sentinel programs with data from traditional environmental sampling.
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