Risk assessment at the USEPA: The science behind the assessments

The products of human health research and risk assessment are fundamental to the Agency's regulatory decision-making process. Innovative and cutting-edge approaches to risk assessment issues are being developed by the USEPA and with well-targeted research and methods development at the USEPA and other places, we are moving forward on all the critical issues identified and discussed at this BOSC workshop. We seem to be well positioned to make significant progress in the next few years. As we look to the future some science challenges are evident; they include: 1) Issues related to current approaches that are being refined and/or reevaluated. Examples include non-cancer uncertainty factors approach described earlier. 2) Issues that are with us today that are being examined and Agency-wide approaches developed, including for aggregate/cumulative risk and probabilistic risk assessment approaches including expert elicitation, and 3) Emerging science areas that need to be factored into human health risk assessment including utilization of genomics information, systems biology, and evaluation of new materials such as nanomaterials. Through use of an iterative process of research-risk assessment-risk management, we are able and well positioned for the future to continue to advance the science underpinnings and applications of new knowledge in health risk assessments.

Duke Scholars

Author John Vandenberg Environmental Sciences and Policy