A Small Dose of Risk Assessment and Risk Management

• An Introduction to Risk Assessment and Risk Management

Risk Assessment DOSSIER

Hazard x Exposure x Individual Sensitivity = Risk

• "We should remember that risk assessment data can be like the captured spy: If you torture it long enough, it will tell you anything you want to know."
  (William Ruckelshaus -1st administrator of U.S. EPA 1984.)

• " In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”
  Principle 15: Rio Declaration 1992

• Steps in risk assessment
  • Hazard Identification
  • Exposure Assessment
  • Dose-Response Assessment
  • Risk Characterization

Risk Assessment Chapter

• A Small Dose of Risk Assessment - chapter pdf

PowerPoint presentation

• A Small Dose of Risk Assessment - PowerPoint presentation

More Information and References

European, Asian, and international Agencies

• England – Department of Health – Guidance on a strategy for the risk assessment of chemical carcinogens. (accessed: 24 August 2009). The Department of Health has published information and research outcomes on risk and public health.

• World Health Organization - The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) – Chemicals Assessment. (accessed: 24 August 2009). Information on global risk assessment issues.

• EnviroLink – The Online Environmental Community. (accessed: 24 August 2009). “The EnviroLink Network is a non-profit organization founded in 1991. EnviroLink maintains a database of thousands of environmental resources and provides internet services to non-profit organizations.

• World Health Organization - Chemicals Hazard/Risk Assessment Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development – Chemicals Assessment. (accessed: 24 August 2009). “OECD assists member countries developing in and harmonizing methods for assessing such risk.”

• National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba-City, Ibaraki, Japan - Research Center for Environmental Risk (English and Japanese) (accessed: 24 August 2009). The center aims to provide policy responsive research on improving assessment methods for environmental risk

North American Agencies

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies - National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA). (accessed: 24 August 2009). NCEA goals are to apply “science to improve risk assessment and environmental decision making.”

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies - Risk Assessment Portal. (accessed: 24 August 2009). NCEA goals are to apply “science to improve risk assessment and environmental decision making.”

• U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) - Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool. (accessed: 24 August 2009). An interactive tool designed by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to estimate a woman's risk of developing invasive breast cancer.

• California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). Risk Assessment (accessed: 24 August 2009). “OEHHA is responsible for developing and providing risk managers in state and local government agencies with toxicological and medical information relevant to decisions involving public health.”

Non-Government Organizations

• American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). (accessed: 24 August 2009). “The ACGIS community of professionals advances worker health and safety through education and the development and dissemination of scientific and technical knowledge.

• Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA). (accessed: 24 August 2009). TERA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation works to “protect public health developing, reviewing, and communicating risk assessment values and analyses.”

• Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). (accessed: 24 August 2009). “SRA provides an open forum for all those who are interested in risk analysis. Risk analysis is broadly defined to include risk assessment, risk characterization, risk communication, risk management, and policy relating to risk.”

• Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. (accessed: 24 August 2009). This Center focuses on “using decision science to empower informed choices about risks to health, safety, and the environment.”

• The Hampshire Research Institute (HRI). (accessed: 24 August 2009). “HRI uses scientific, engineering, and computing expertise to make a difference on environmental issues.”

• The Science & Environmental Health Network – Precautionary Principle. (accessed: 24 August 2009). SEHN advocates the wise application of science to protecting the environment and public health.

Reference

A Guide to Health Risk Assessment. California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Available as a pdf file here (accessed: 24 August 2009).

The Precautionary Principle In Action a Handbook. Science and Enviornental Health Network, Joel Tickner, Carolyn Raffensperger, and Nancy Myers. Available here (accessed: 10 April 2003).

Cairns, John, Jr. (2003). Interrelationships between the Precautionary Principle, Prediction Strategies, and Sustainable Use of the Planet. by Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 111, Number 7, June 2003

Goldstein, Bernard D. (2001). The Precautionary Principle and Public Health - The Precautionary Principle Also Applies to Public Health Actions. September 2001, Vol 91, No. 9. American Journal of Public Health 1358-1361.

Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Stockholm, Sweden: United Nations; 1992. Publication E.73.II.A.14. Available here (http://www.un.org/documents/ga/conf151/aconf15126-1annex1.htm>) (accessed: 6 July 2003).

Nielsen, E., Ostergaard, G. and Larsen, J.C. Toxicological Risk Assessment of Chemicals: A Practical Guide. Informa HealthCare, 2008.

O'Brien, M. Making Better Environmental Decisions: An Alternative to Risk Assessment. The MIT Press, 2000.

Gilbert, S.G. (2006) Precautionary Assessment: Getting Out of the Risk Assessment Box.. (accessed: 24 August 2009).