Risk

Document that defines the measures to take for dealing with a major crisis (accidental pollution or catastrophic event), and which aims at planning rescue, organizing the flow of information between the services concerned, informing the public with the necessary instructions, delimiting possible evacuation areas, etc. The

Action to go bathing, i.e. to get immersed in water, even without swimming. The "bathing areas" are monitored by the departmental office responsible for public health. Under Community Law (and French law), they are considered as "bathing waters".

Methodology for assessing the dangers of the dispersion of contaminants in different environmental compartments (air, water, sediments, living organisms).

A substance (very often a protein) alien to the human body and that can cause an allergy when it enters it (possible ways: ingestion, injection, inhalation...). Seafood (crustaceans, but also molluscs, often seashells and even fish, often scombridae and Gadidae) contain allergens to which some consumers are sensitive. There might be cross-reactivity between some allergens.

Cumulative difference between potential evapotranspiration (soil evaporation and transpiration from vegetation) and precipitation during a certain period in which the precipitation is the smaller of the two.

Estimate of the amount of a substance found in food or drinking water, expressed as a function of body weight (mg/kg or mg/kg body weight), that can be daily ingested over a lifetime without appreciable health risk.

Amount of chemicals that a man or an animal can swallow per day, during his/its life, without any appreciable risk to his/its health. Values are especially established for food additives and pesticide residues whose presence in food meets technical requirements or that are necessary for the protection of plants.

Science that focuses on the identification and study of substances that can harm living organisms.

Harmful effects on the individual in his growth stage which can result from exposure of one of both parents prior to conception, exposure during prenatal or postnatal growing stage up to sexual maturation.

Result of an action, more or less harmful to a living organism, which chemicals can exert when coming into contact with the latter. We talk about toxic substance when, after entering the organism, by any means whatsoever (at an appropriate dose given once or several times at very short intervals, or repeated small doses over a long time), it causes, immediately or after a more or less long latency period, transient or permanent disorders of one or more functions of the organism up to their complete removal and death of the organism (called lethal toxicity). Acute toxicity (causing death or serious physiological disorders immediately or shortly after exposure) should be distinguished from subacute (at lower doses, effects which occur in the short term on target organisms and which are sometimes reversible) or from chronic toxicity (causing long-term irreversible effects by continuous absorption of small doses of pollutants, or cumulative effects).