Incorporating New Approach Methodologies in Risk Assessments (original) (raw)
Related papers
Reproductive Toxicology, 1995
Risk is, at minimum, a two-dimensional concept involving (1) the possibility of an adverse outcome, and (2) uncertainty over the occurrence, timing, or magnitude of that adverse outcome. If either attribute is absent, then there is no risk.
An integrated framework for health and ecological risk assessment
Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 2005
The World Health Organization's International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have developed a collaborative partnership to foster integration of assessment approaches for human health and ecological risks. This paper presents the framework developed by that group. Integration provides coherent expressions of assessment results, incorporates the interdependence of humans and the environment, uses sentinel organisms, and improves the efficiency and quality of assessments relative to independent human health and ecological risk assessments. The paper describes how integration can occur within each component of risk assessment, and communicates the benefits of integration at each point. The goal of this effort is to promote the use of this internationally accepted guidance as a basis for harmonization of risk assessment.
NATO Security through Science Series, 2006
This paper presents a current overview of the basic elements of environmental risk assessment within the basic four-step process of hazard identification, exposure assessment, toxicity assessment, and risk characterization. These general steps have been applied to assess both human and ecological risks from environmental exposures. Approaches used to identify hazards and exposures are being refined, including the use of optimized field sampling and more representative, rather than conservative, upper-bound estimates. In addition, toxicity data are being reviewed more rigorously as U.S. and European harmonization initiatives gain strength, and the classification of chemicals has become more qualitative to more flexibly accommodate new dose-response information as it is developed. Finally, more emphasis is being placed on noncancer end points, and human and ecological risks are being weighed against each other more explicitly at the risk characterization phase. Recent advances in risk-based decision making reflect the increased transparency of the overall process, with more explicit incorporation of multiple trade-offs. The end reklt is a more comprehensive life-cycle evaluation of the risks associated with environmental exposures at contaminated sites.
Cumulative Risk Assessment Toolbox: Methods and Approaches for the Practitioner
Journal of Toxicology, 2013
The historical approach to assessing health risks of environmental chemicals has been to evaluate them one at a time. In fact, we are exposed every day to a wide variety of chemicals and are increasingly aware of potential health implications. Although considerable progress has been made in the science underlying risk assessments for real-world exposures, implementation has lagged because many practitioners are unaware of methods and tools available to support these analyses. To address this issue, the US Environmental Protection Agency developed a toolbox of cumulative risk resources for contaminated sites, as part of a resource document that was published in 2007. This paper highlights information for nearly 80 resources from the toolbox and provides selected updates, with practical notes for cumulative risk applications. Resources are organized according to the main elements of the assessment process: (1) planning, scoping, and problem formulation; (2) environmental fate and tran...
Environmental and Health Risk Assessment and Management
Environmental Pollution, 2006
All Rights Reserved © 200 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
Methods of Risk Analysis: Traditional and Ecological Approaches
1996
Historically, the term risk assessment has been applied to the examination of potential risk to human health as a result of exposure to some introduced environmental toxicant. As an intellectual discipline, risk assessment is in its infancy. Within the past couple of decades, considerable research has been done in the fields of toxicology, industrial hygiene, environmental impact assessment, engineering, and epidemiology. The vast majority of the accessible literature deals with such risk events as radiation exposure as a result of an industrial accident, impact of hazardous material on human health, impact of pesticides on human health, and oil spills. In recent years, a branch of risk analysis has formed that deals primarily with risks posed to the environment as a result of human activity; this type of analysis is generally referred to as ecological risk analysis. This paper summarizes the approaches associated with the traditional methods of risk analysis and with ecological r...
Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment: Science and Decisions
Risk Anal, 2010
At the request of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Research Council (NRC) recently completed a major report, Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment, that is intended to strengthen the scientific basis, credibility, and effectiveness of risk assessment practices and subsequent risk management decisions. The report describes the challenges faced by risk assessment and the need to consider improvements in both the technical analyses of risk assessments (i.e., the development and use of scientific information to improve risk characterization) and the utility of risk assessments (i.e., making assessments more relevant and useful for risk management decisions). The report tackles a number of topics relating to improvements in the process, including the design and framing of risk assessments, uncertainty and variability characterization, selection and use of defaults, unification of cancer and noncancer dose-response assessment, cumulative risk assessment, and the need to increase EPA's capacity to address these improvements. This article describes and summarizes the NRC report, with an eye toward its implications for risk assessment practices at EPA.
Cumulative risk assessment lessons learned: a review of case studies and issue papers
Chemosphere, 2015
Cumulative risk assessments (CRAs) examine potential risks posed by exposure to multiple and sometimes disparate environmental stressors. CRAs are more resource intensive than single chemical assessments, and pose additional challenges and sources of uncertainty. CRAs may examine the impact of several factors on risk, including exposure magnitude and timing, chemical mixture composition, as well as physical, biological, or psychosocial stressors. CRAs are meant to increase the relevance of risk assessments, providing decision makers with information based on real world exposure scenarios that improve the characterization of actual risks and hazards. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has evaluated a number of CRAs, performed by or commissioned for the Agency, to seek insight into CRA concepts, methods, and lessons learned. In this article, ten case studies and five issue papers on key CRA topics are examined and a set of lessons learned are identified for CRA implementation. T...