PREFACE
THE CHIEF GOAL OF CHEMICAL RISK ASSESSMENT is to characterize Assessment and Management of Chemical Risks Downloaded from pubs.acs.org by 23.81.109.227 on 05/18/18. For personal use only.
types o f hazards associated with a substance and to estimate the probability that those hazards will be realized in exposed populations o r individuals. Risk assessment is distinct from risk management, which is the process o f deciding how best to mitigate risks deemed to be excessive. Risk assessment depends u p o n data derived from experimental and epidemiological investigations into the hazardous properties o f chemicals and from studies o f the magnitude o f h u m a n exposure to them. R i s k management
decisions are
influenced by judgments about the importance o f an assessed risk to public health, the technical means by which a risk might be abated and the costs o f such abatement, and the applicable laws. Risk management decisions may thus take a wide variety o f forms and depend upon many factors that exceed the bounds o f science. The chapters
in this book concern both risk assessment
and
risk
management. The first five deal with some o f the central problems o f risk assessment. The remaining six chapters cover a range o f risk management topics, and reveal some o f the principal issues facing chemical risk managers in a number o f different contexts. T h e chapters o n risk management discuss the pervasive problem o f dealing with the scientific uncertainties associated with assessed
risks, the use o f comparative risk analysis as a basis for
deciding whether risk controls should be sought, and the legal issues that always need to be considered. T h e chapters o n risk management also reveal some o f the fundamental problems faced by both corporate and regulatory decision makers. This book is by no means a comprehensive treatise o n either
the
assessment or management o f chemical risks. Rather, it is an introduction to the essential elements o f these subjects, designed especially for the increasing number o f individuals, particularly those in the corporate setting, w h o are having to make decisions about chemical risks in the face o f substantial scientific uncertainty and without the benefit o f strong historical precedents. We hope this volume serves to lay the g r o u n d w o r k for an understanding o f these issues and to stimulate further inquiry. J O S E P H V. RODRICKS
ROBERT G. TARDIFF
Environ Corporation Washington, D C
Life Systems, Inc. Arlington, VA
October 12, 1983 vii
the
