Linking, genes. And environmental exposures

As already noted in this chapter, most human disease is understood to involve complex interactions among genetic predispositions(due to genetic variant), environmental exposures (both accute and chronic- that is both short and long term),and aging or physiological development. Although characterizing the relationships among these elements in a useful way is ana extraordinarily compolcated undertaking, this is the pathway that will eventually lead to a new age of medicine and disease prevention. An area of personalized medicine is possible, but the road toward achieving it is still very long, most realistically measssured in decades. The assurance of progress requires thet multiple research approaches be used for linking exposures with clinical disease.

The traditional approach to environmental exposure assessment, working from the release of toxicant into the general environment to human exposure to internal dose to biological effect and eventually to disease, has proven to be an extremely effective framework for environmental health research. Its component methodologies have matured, and innovative measurement and assessment techniques