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14 J.L. & Pol'y 39 (2006)
Evaluating Disease Causation in Humans Exposed to Toxic Substances

handle is hein.journals/jlawp14 and id is 49 raw text is: EVALUATING DISEASE CAUSATION IN HUMANS EXPOSED TO TOXIC SUBSTANCES Joseph V. Rodricks, Ph.D., D.A.B.T. INTRODUCTION Individuals claiming they have been harmed by exposures to chemical substances may seek compensation by bringing lawsuits against those whose actions caused the exposures to occur. Exposures may involve specific products, such as pharmaceuticals, foods and many other consumer products, or industrial chemicals used by workers in commercial operations of many types, or chemicals emitted to the environment during their manufacture, distribution, use, or disposal. Under our judicial system, those making claims of harm, i.e. plaintiffs, are generally required to offer evidence, through experts in medicine, epidemiology, toxicology, and perhaps several other scientific disciplines, that a causal relationship exists between the exposures they have allegedly experienced and the specific type of medical injury or disease they claim to have incurred. Defendants in such cases will also seek out experts to evaluate and, if possible, counter the evaluations of experts engaged by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs are generally not faced with the scientifically impossible burden of demonstrating causality with absolute proof; rather, the legal standard is typically expressed as a need to demonstrate that causality is demonstrable with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, or that it is more likely true than not true that the harm Joseph V. Rodricks is a Founding Principal in the Arlington, Virginia office of ENVIRON International Corporation. A version of this paper was presented at Brooklyn Law School, Science for Judges seminar on April 1, 2005.

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