Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment

✍ Scribed by Committee on Improving Risk Analysis Approaches Used by the U.S. EPA, National Research Council

• Publisher: National Academies Press
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 423
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Risk assessment has become a dominant public policy tool for making choices, based on limited resources, to protect public health and the environment. It has been instrumental to the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as other federal agencies in evaluating public health concerns, informing regulatory and technological decisions, prioritizing research needs and funding, and in developing approaches for cost-benefit analysis. However, risk assessment is at a crossroads. Despite advances in the field, risk assessment faces a number of significant challenges including lengthy delays in making complex decisions; lack of data leading to significant uncertainty in risk assessments; and many chemicals in the marketplace that have not been evaluated and emerging agents requiring assessment."Science and Decisions" makes practical scientific and technical recommendations to address these challenges. This book is a complement to the widely used 1983 National Academies book, "Risk Assessment in the Federal Government" (also known as the "Red Book"). The earlier book established a framework for the concepts and conduct of risk assessment that has been adopted by numerous expert committees, regulatory agencies, and public health institutions. The new book embeds these concepts within a broader framework for risk-based decision-making. Together, these are essential references for those working in the regulatory and public health fields.

✦ Table of Contents

FrontMatter......Page 2
Preface......Page 10
Abbreviations......Page 12
Contents......Page 14
Summary......Page 20
1 Introduction......Page 34
2 Evolution and Use of Risk Assessment in the Environmental Protection Agency: Current Practice and Future Prospects......Page 45
3 The Design of Risk Assessments......Page 84
4 Uncertainty and Variability: The Recurring and Recalcitrant Elements of Risk Assessment......Page 112
5 Toward a Unified Approach to Dose-Response Assessment......Page 146
6 Selection and Use of Defaults......Page 207
7 Implementing Cumulative Risk Assessment......Page 232
8 Improving the Utility of Risk Assessment......Page 259
9 Toward Improved Risk-Based Decision-Making......Page 277
Appendix A: Biographic Information on the Committee on Improving Risk Analysis Approaches Used by the Environmental Protection Agency......Page 292
Appendix B: Statement of Task of the Committee on Improving Risk Analysis Approaches Used by the Environmental Protection Agency......Page 300
Appendix C: Timeline of Selected Environmental Protection Agency Risk-Assessment Activities......Page 302
Appendix D: Environmental Protection Agency Response to Recommendations from Selected NRC Reports: Policy, Activity, and Practice......Page 318
Appendix E: Environmental Protection Agency Program and Region Responses to Questions from the Committee......Page 386
Appendix F: Case Studies of the Framework for Risk-Based Decision-Making......Page 418