Record Display for the EPA National Library Catalog

RECORD NUMBER: 340 OF 2306

Main Title Developments at EPA in Addressing Uncertainty in Risk Assessment.
Author Rhomberg, L. ;
CORP Author Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Office of Health and Environmental Assessment.
Publisher 1993
Year Published 1993
Report Number EPA/600/J-93/507 ;OHEA-C-536;
Stock Number PB94-135167
Additional Subjects Uncertainty ; Environmental policy ; Risk assessment ; US EPA ; Environmental impacts ; Environment pollution ; Man environment interactions ; Government policies ; Decision making ; Public health ; Environmental protection ; Reprints ;
Holdings
Library Call Number Additional Info Location Last
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Checkout
Status
NTIS  PB94-135167 Some EPA libraries have a fiche copy filed under the call number shown. 07/26/2022
Collation 4p
Abstract
An emerging trend in risk assessment is to be more explicit about uncertainties, both during the analytical procedures and in communicating results. In February 1992, then-Deputy EPA Administrator Henry Habicht set out Agency goals in a memorandum stating that the Agency will present information on the range of exposures... and on the use of multiple risk descriptors and calls on analyses to be clearly delineating uncertainties and assumptions along with the impacts of these factors... on the overall assessment. These are restatements of existing principles, but the Agency is called upon to better bring them to fruition in its day-to-day practice. This would seem to require two areas of development: restructuring of institutional attitudes toward uncertainty and the development and acquisition of appropriate technical capabilities. Risk managers must value being presented with an array of information. They will still need to make specific regulatory 'calls', however. The challenge will be to establish agreed upon and legally supportable ways to make such determinations in the face of explicitly characterized uncertainties. EPA also faces the technical challenges of mounting the necessary efforts.