Ecological and Health Risk Assessment

• Published in: Water environment research 1997-06, Vol.69 (4), p.925-930
• Main Author: Cura, Jerome J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical hazards; Ecological modeling; Ecological risk assessment; Environmental agencies; Environmental assessment; Fate & Effects of Pollutants; Soil biochemistry; Soil ecology; Soil pollution; Wildlife ecology; Wildlife population assessment
• ISSN: 1061-4303; 1554-7531
• DOI: 10.2175/106143097X135136

This is the Water Environment Federation's first annual review of ecological risk assessment, and it is included because of the increased emphasis on risk assessment in regulatory decision making. It will review the various advances in ecological risk assessment guidance and methods of the past year. Risk assessment depends heavily on two subjects not covered in this review, an analysis of fate and transport and our knowledge of chemical toxicity. Therefore, the reader will gain maximum benefit from also reading the companion reviews on these subjects in this volume. During 1996, the Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management published its report on risk assessment in regulatory decision making (Omenn et al., 1996). That the U.S. Congress mandated this commission as part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 to "make a full investigation of the policy implications and appropriate uses of risk assessment and risk management in regulatory programs under various federal laws to prevent cancer and other chronic human health effects which may result from exposure to hazardous substances" reflects the level of governmental concern of the role of risk assessment in regulation.