The 2022 revised WHO TEFs for dioxins and dioxin-like chemicals: The importance of considering the use of species-specific information to determine relative effective potency for human-based risk assessment

• The WHO Committee relied largely on data from laboratory studies on rodents to determine Toxic Equivalence Factors (TEFs). • Extensive literature with human cells shows that human AHR responds much differently from rats to specific AHR ligands. • Utilization of human-based TEF values will provide more legitimate risk estimates for human exposures to DLCs. • Human-based TEFs could substantially reduce clean-up costs and will not stoke unwarranted fears from exposures to DLCs.