Hazard identification

We  start the process of  risk assessment by  first identifying  the hazard. The goal of hazard identification is to identification  potential adverse health effects in humans associated with exposure  to a chemical, the likelihood of such effects occurring  and the certainty or uncertainty associated with such effects. In this context, the hazard identification does not imply the quantitative extrapolation of risk for exposed human populations as in the dose-response and risk characterization step, but rather an evaluation of the qualitative  likelihood of the effect occurring  in exposed human populations.