Hazard identification
We start the process of risk assessment by first identifying the hazard. The goal of hazard identification is to identification potential adverse health effects in humans associated with exposure to a chemical, the likelihood of such effects occurring and the certainty or uncertainty associated with such effects. In this context, the hazard identification does not imply the quantitative extrapolation of risk for exposed human populations as in the dose-response and risk characterization step, but rather an evaluation of the qualitative likelihood of the effect occurring in exposed human populations.