The Benchmark Dose (BMD) is a key concept in toxicology used for assessing the risk of a substance causing adverse effects. It is a dose or exposure level that leads to a predefined change in response rate of an adverse effect compared to a background level. Unlike the traditional No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL), the BMD approach uses a mathematical model to estimate the dose that causes a specified increase in the probability of an adverse effect, typically 5% or 10% above the background rate.
