Exposure Interactions

B.K. Nelson

This paper highlights the importance of evaluating the "whole person"when health professionals diagnose potential toxicity from occupational and/or environmental exposure. Health professionals must consider interactions of combined exposures to toxic agents resulting from the personal lifestyle of an individual, along with various drugs which the person may be taking. In addition, health professionals must evaluate potential family or home exposures from use of chemicals/agents in the home, as well as those that may enter the home by way of workplace-contaminated clothing or other items brought home from work. Toxic exposures to chemical and physical agents and other modifying factors (e.g., diurnal variations due to shift work, stress) to which individuals may be exposed occupationally or environmentally must also be considered. Many interactive and modifying factors may impinge on occupational and environmental toxicity.