Researching health risks / U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment.

  • United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Date:
[1993]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Researching health risks / U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/244 (page 2)
    Laboratory and field observations of adverse health effects and exposures to particular agents Hazard identification (Does the agent cause the adverse effect?) Information on methods to extrapolate from high to low doses and from animals Dose-response assessment (What is the relationship between dose and incidence in humans?) a | Exposure assessment (What exposures are currently experienced or anticipated under different conditions?) and characterization of populations RISK ASSESSMENT Development of regulatory options Risk characterization (What is the estimated incidence of the adverse effect in a given population?) Evaluation of public health, economic, social, and political consequences of regulatory options Agency decisions and actions But, however uncertain the results of health risk assessments may be, they provide the foundation for health risk-based decisions (e.g., emission standards fcr incinerators). Those decisions affect expenditures for complying with regulations and medical expenses for exposure-related diseases that can total billions of dollars. With so much at stake, it seems fitting to seize Opportunities to use scientific research to narrow the scope of uncertainty in health risk assessment. In its landmark 1983 report, the National Re- search Council (NRC) concluded that improving the quality and comprehensiveness of knowledge is by far the most effective way to improve risk assessment. The decade following the publication of the NRC report saw impressive advances in the biological and biomedical sciences and provided regulatory agencies with considerable experience in conducting risk assessments and applying risk assessment methods. This report reviews Federal research efforts to harness those advances and experiences and develop a better knowledge base for health risk assessment. In this study, the Office of Technology Assess- ment (OTA) analyzed the nature and organization of federally supported research on health risk assessment and examined whether such research was adequately supported and managed. The first section of the report summarizes the results of the survey OTA conducted of Federal programs and identifies the resources, research priorities, trends, and gaps of current research in this area. Subsequent sections describe the linkage of research to decisionmaking and the limits of research-based information in making social de- cisions, using management of the risks associated with radon exposure as a case study. A final section describes prospects for the future, includ- ing promising areas of research on risk assess- ment and factors to enhance the chances of success in the endeavor.