Risk Assessment, Risk Management, and Fish Consumption Advisories in the United States

In the United States, the risk assessment − risk management paradigm that underpins federal decisions about environmental health risks was first established in 1983. In the beginning, the importance of public participation was not explicitly recognized within the paradigm. Over time, however, it has become evident that not only must risk-based decisions be founded on the best available scientific knowledge and understanding, but also that they must take account of the knowledge, values, and preferences of interested and affected parties, including community members, business people, and environmental advocates. This article examines the gradually expanding role of public participation in risk-based decision making in the United States, and traces its evolution from a peripheral issue labeled as an<em> external pressure</em> to an integral element of the 21st century risk assessment − risk management paradigm. Today, and into the foreseeable future, public participation and stakeholder involvement are intrinsic features of the emerging American regulatory landscape, which emphasizes collaborative approaches for achieving cooperative and cost-effective solutions to complicated and often controversial environmental health problems.

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Incorporating Social Sciences in Public Risk Assessment and Risk Management Organisations

European Journal of Risk Regulation ◽

10.1017/s1867299x00002907 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 7-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Cécile Wendling

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

United States ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

Risk Management ◽

The Netherlands ◽

The United States ◽

Added Value ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Public Risk ◽

The Uk

The objective of the article is to analyse the use of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) in public risk assessment and risk management organisations in France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States based on more than a hundred interviews conducted with social sciences experts employed by or working for these organisations. If the added value brought by the integration of social scientists is recognised, the use of social sciences differs from one organisation to another. The article compares the different positions given to social scientists inside and outside the organisation, the various methods used and the different contents produced. The survey highlights a set of initiatives that are scattered, differentiated and ultimately have little in common – except that they often play a marginal role in the main activities of the agencies concerned.

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Rethinking the Role of Information in Chemicals Policy: Implications for TSCA and REACH

elni Review ◽

10.46850/elni.2005.015 ◽

2005 ◽

pp. 22-37

Author(s):

Lars Koch ◽

Nicholas A. Ashford

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

European Union ◽

Risk Management ◽

Risk Reduction ◽

The United States ◽

Sequential Process ◽

The European Union ◽

Chemicals Policy

This article analyzes the role of different kinds of information for minimizing or eliminating the risks due to the production, use, and disposal of chemical substances and contrasts it with present and planned (informational) regulation in the United States and the European Union, respectively. Some commentators who are disillusioned with regulatory approaches have argued that informational tools should supplant mandatory regulatory measures unflatteringly described as “command and control.” Critics of this reformist view are concerned with the lack of technology-innovation forcing that results from informational policies alone. We argue that informational tools can be made more technology inducing – and thus more oriented towards environmental innovations – than they are under current practices, with or without complementary regulatory mechanisms, although a combination of approaches may yield the best results. The conventional approach to chemicals policy envisions a sequential process that includes three steps of (1) producing or collecting risk-relevant information, (2) performing a risk assessment or characterization, followed by (3) risk management practices, often driven by regulation. We argue that such a sequential process is too static, or linear, and spends too many resources on searching for, or generating information about present hazards, in comparison to searching for, and generating information related to safer alternatives which include input substitution, final product reformulation, and/or process changes. These pollution prevention or cleaner technology approaches are generally acknowledged to be superior to pollution control. We argue that the production of risk information necessary for risk assessment, on the one hand, and the search for safer alternatives on the other hand, should be approached simultaneously in two parallel quests. Overcoming deficits in hazard-related information and knowledge about risk reduction alternatives must take place in a more synchronized manner than is currently being practiced. This parallel approach blurs the alleged bright line between risk assessment and risk management, but reflects more closely how regulatory agencies actually approach the regulation of chemicals. These theoretical considerations are interpreted in the context of existing and planned informational tools in the United States and the European Union, respectively. The current political debate in the European Union concerned with reforming chemicals policy and implementing the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) system is focused on improving the production and assessment of risk information with regard to existing chemicals, although it also contains some interesting risk management elements. To some extent, REACH mirrors the approach taken in the U.S. under the Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976. TSCA turned out not to be effectively implemented and provides lessons that should be relevant to REACH. In this context, we discuss the opportunities and limits of existing and planned informational tools for achieving risk reduction.

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Risk Assessment and Risk Management of Noncriteria Pollutants

Toxicology and Industrial Health ◽

10.1177/074823379000600519 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 6 (5) ◽

pp. 245-255 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Si Duk Lee

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

Decision Making ◽

Risk Management ◽

Air Pollutants ◽

The United States ◽

Risk Information ◽

Air Toxics ◽

Hazardous Air Pollutants ◽

Regulatory Decision

Noncriteria air pollutants are synonymous with hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), air toxics or toxic air pollutants (TAPs). The term noncriteria pollutants refers to all air pollutants except for the criteria pollutants (SOx, PM, NOx, CO, O3, and Pb). Air toxics are pervasive in our environment worldwide in varying degrees. Uses of these chemicals are varied and numerous; their emissions are ubiquitous, and they include organic compounds such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, dioxins, aldehydes, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals such as chromium, nickel, cadmium, and mercury. There are more than 70,000 chemicals that are in use commercially in the United States, and we know relatively little about their ambient concentrations, persistence, transport and transformation as well as their effects on health and the environment, many of which take decades to emerge. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, under the authority of Section 112 of the Clean Air Act, is mandated to regulate any air pollutant which, in the Administrator's judgment, “causes, or contributes to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to result in an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness.” For such regulatory decision-making, EPA's Office of Health and Environmental Assessment (OHEA) provides scientific assessment of health effects for potentially hazardous air pollutants. In accordance with risk assessment guidelines developed by OHEA over the years, Health Assessment Documents (HADs) containing risk assessment information were prepared and were subjected to critical review and careful revision to produce Final Draft HADs which serve as scientific databases for regulatory decision-making by the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) in its risk management process. EPA developed databases such as the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) and the National Air Toxics Information Clearinghouse (NATICH) and a technical assistance response system called the Air Risk Information Support Center (AIR RISC), in addition, to help in implementation of the National Air Toxics Program by state and local regulators.

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State-Level Recreational Fishing Regulations and Fish Consumption Advisories in the United States

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice ◽

10.1097/phh.0b013e3182602fa9 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. E11-E19 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David C. Love ◽

Meagan Hawes ◽

Jamie Harding

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Fish Consumption ◽

State Level ◽

The United States ◽

Recreational Fishing ◽

Fish Consumption Advisories ◽

Fishing Regulations

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Risk Assessment for chemicals in the United States and Unreasonable Risk

Han Yang Law Review ◽

10.35227/hylr.2019.08.30.3.49 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 49-73

Author(s):

Ho-Yong Lee

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

The United States

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Third-party funding na arbitragem contra Estados: a relativização da imunidade executória na execução da sentença arbitral contra Estados

REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION ◽

10.52028/rbadr.v1i1.10 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 203-234

Author(s):

Ana Monteiro ◽

Daniel Ferreira

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

Asset Pricing ◽

The United States ◽

Third Party ◽

State Immunity ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Domestic Legislation ◽

Current Context ◽

Party Funding

The purpose of this article is to assess the risk for preventing the execution of arbitral awards made against Sovereign States due to the State’s immunity shield. Given the importance of an accurate asset pricing in the business of third-party funding (TPF), the topic entails a particular relevance to the current context of globalized litigation in light of its contribution to the promotion of TPF at the international arbitration community. After reviewing the literature on TPF, on the peculiarities of investment and commercial arbitrations against States and on the evolution of State immunity (also in terms of domestic legislation, considering the local laws passed by the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia), the article aims explore how the funder should incorporate into its risk assessment the risk of not executing awards rendered against Sovereign States.

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Risk assessment of cartilaginous fish populations

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fsu157 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 1057-1068 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Enric Cortés ◽

Elizabeth N. Brooks ◽

Kyle W. Shertzer

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Risk Assessment ◽

The United States ◽

Cartilaginous Fish ◽

Assessment Methods ◽

Reference Points ◽

Assessment Process ◽

Model Complexity ◽

Stock Assessments ◽

Demographic Methods

Abstract We review three broad categories of risk assessment methodology used for cartilaginous fish: productivity-susceptibility analysis (PSA), demographic methods, and quantitative stock assessments. PSA is generally a semi-quantitative approach useful as an exploratory or triage tool that can be used to prioritize research, group species with similar vulnerability or risk, and provide qualitative management advice. Demographic methods are typically used in the conservation arena and provide quantitative population metrics that are used to quantify extinction risk and identify vulnerable life stages. Stock assessments provide quantitative estimates of population status and the associated risk of exceeding biological reference points, such as maximum sustainable yield. We then describe six types of uncertainty (process, observation, model, estimation, implementation, and institutional) that affect the risk assessment process, identify which of the three risk assessment methods can accommodate each type of uncertainty, and provide examples mostly for sharks drawn from our experience in the United States. We also review the spectrum of stock assessment methods used mainly for sharks in the United States, and present a case study where multiple methods were applied to the same species (dusky shark, Carcharinus obscurus) to illustrate differing degrees of model complexity and type of uncertainty considered. Finally, we address the common and problematic case of data-poor bycatch species. Our main recommendation for future work is to use Management Strategy Evaluation or similar simulation approaches to explore the effect of different sources of uncertainty, identify the most critical data to satisfy predetermined management objectives, and develop harvest control rules for cartilaginous fish. We also propose to assess the performance of data-poor and -rich methods through stepwise model construction.

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Crop Insurance and the New Deal Roots of Agricultural Financialization in the United States

Enterprise & Society ◽

10.1017/eso.2019.43 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 648-680

Author(s):

SHANE HAMILTON

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Risk Management ◽

Social Insurance ◽

Crop Insurance ◽

The United States ◽

The Great Depression ◽

Before And After ◽

Private And Public ◽

The 1960S ◽

American Agriculture

A range of private and public institutions emerged in the United States in the years before and after the Great Depression to help farmers confront the inherent uncertainty of agricultural production and marketing. This included a government-owned and operated insurance enterprise offering “all-risk” coverage to American farmers beginning in 1938. Crop insurance, initially developed as a social insurance program, was beset by pervasive problems of adverse selection and moral hazard. As managers and policy makers responded to those problems from the 1940s on, they reshaped federal crop insurance in ways that increasingly made the scheme a lever of financialization, a means of disciplining individual farmers to think of farming in abstract terms of risk management. Crop insurance became intertwined with important changes in the economic context of agriculture by the 1960s, including the emergence of the “technological treadmill,” permanently embedding financialized risk management into the political economy of American agriculture.

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