The use of well-defined biomarkers (such as blood lead) in risk assessment

Biomarkers have a number of different uses in risk assessment, including (1) a variety of applications as dosimeters, (2) as an aid in quantifying inter-individual variability in susceptibility; and (3) as intermediate effect parameters that can help the analyst predict outcomes that are difficult to measure directly. This paper focuses primarily on applications of the first and second types, which are most frequently found in assessing risks from inorganic compounds.