The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released an update to its Exposure Factors Handbook, the Exposure Factors Handbook: 2011 Edition (EPA/600/R–09/052F) (Handbook). The Handbook provides information on various physiological and behavioral factors commonly used in assessing exposure to environmental chemicals.
This publication updates the previous 1997 version, to provide the “most up-to-date data” on these exposure factors. The recommended values are based on EPA’s “interpretations of the available data.” The EPA stipulates that “in many situations different values may be appropriate to use in consideration of policy, precedent or other factors.”