| ADVERSE IMPACTS OF THE VARIABILITY IN THE MAGNITUDE OF THE BIAS IN THE LINEARIZED MULTISTAGE MODELS OVERSTATEMENT OF RISKS
In the regulatory arena, the q1* value is often said to be conservative, in the sense that, by overstating the potency and added risks, it is thought to be protective of public health by inducing extreme measures to reduce exposure and dose due to the substance at hand. Of course, if such a conservative potency measure leads to a misallocation of public health resources, then this conservatism could very well be injurious to public health.
The exaggeration (bias) in the linearized multistage models upper bounds on potency is not the same for all dose-response relationships (more exaggeration when the underlying dose-response relationship is sublinear and less exaggeration when it is linear). Hence, the exaggeration in the linearized multistage models upper bounds on potency is not the same for all substances. This unequal bias could easily lead to the allocation of limited health protection resources to a substance with little or no practical health risks instead of a substance of more serious practical concern. |