The future direction of ecological risk assessment in the United States: reflecting on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Examination of risk assessment practices and principles". 2005

Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
ENVIRON International Corporation, 10150 Highland Manor Drive, Tampa, FL 33610, USA. rdemott@environcorp.com

As part of an agency evaluation of the development of risk assessment tools, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) issued a staff paper in March 2004 describing the current state of practices and policies regarding risk assessment from the agency's perspective. The staff paper provided a rationale for the agency's positions regarding technical topics frequently the subject of comments or complaints. Considerations relevant to ecological risk assessment were included, primarily in a single chapter focused on this topic. This commentary highlights four technical issues important to the advancement of ecological risk assessment practice and discusses how some of the points raised by the U.S. EPA in the staff paper have significance to ecological risk assessors. Discussion regarding incorporating population- and community-level analysis into risk assessments and the apparent reluctance of the U.S. EPA to adopt advances in this area is provided. Also, continuing inconsistencies in the body weight scaling of toxicity values between human health and ecological risk assessment practices are discussed. Ideas for refining the calculation of exposure point concentrations for ecological receptors and the progression between screening steps and comprehensive risk assessment are also discussed.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D001835 Body Weight The mass or quantity of heaviness of an individual. It is expressed by units of pounds or kilograms. Body Weights,Weight, Body,Weights, Body
D004777 Environment The external elements and conditions which surround, influence, and affect the life and development of an organism or population. Environmental Impact,Environmental Impacts,Impact, Environmental,Impacts, Environmental,Environments
D004785 Environmental Pollutants Substances or energies, for example heat or light, which when introduced into the air, water, or land threaten life or health of individuals or ECOSYSTEMS. Environmental Pollutant,Pollutant,Pollutants,Pollutants, Environmental,Pollutant, Environmental
D005069 Evaluation Studies as Topic Works about studies that determine the effectiveness or value of processes, personnel, and equipment, or the material on conducting such studies. Critique,Evaluation Indexes,Evaluation Methodology,Evaluation Report,Evaluation Research,Methodology, Evaluation,Pre-Post Tests,Qualitative Evaluation,Quantitative Evaluation,Theoretical Effectiveness,Use-Effectiveness,Critiques,Effectiveness, Theoretical,Evaluation Methodologies,Evaluation Reports,Evaluation, Qualitative,Evaluation, Quantitative,Evaluations, Qualitative,Evaluations, Quantitative,Indexes, Evaluation,Methodologies, Evaluation,Pre Post Tests,Pre-Post Test,Qualitative Evaluations,Quantitative Evaluations,Report, Evaluation,Reports, Evaluation,Research, Evaluation,Test, Pre-Post,Tests, Pre-Post,Use Effectiveness
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D014481 United States A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.
D014484 United States Environmental Protection Agency An agency in the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. It was created as an independent regulatory agency responsible for the implementation of federal laws designed to protect the environment. Its mission is to protect human health and the ENVIRONMENT. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.),Environmental Protection Agency,Environmental Protection Agency, United States,USEPA
D017408 Guidelines as Topic Works about a systematic statement of policy rules or principles. Guidelines may be developed by government agencies at any level, institutions, professional societies, governing boards, or by convening expert panels. For guidelines in the field of health care and clinical medicine, PRACTICE GUIDELINES AS TOPIC is available. Guidelines as Topics
D018570 Risk Assessment The qualitative or quantitative estimation of the likelihood of adverse effects that may result from exposure to specified health hazards or from the absence of beneficial influences. (Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 1988) Assessment, Risk,Benefit-Risk Assessment,Risk Analysis,Risk-Benefit Assessment,Health Risk Assessment,Risks and Benefits,Analysis, Risk,Assessment, Benefit-Risk,Assessment, Health Risk,Assessment, Risk-Benefit,Benefit Risk Assessment,Benefit-Risk Assessments,Benefits and Risks,Health Risk Assessments,Risk Analyses,Risk Assessment, Health,Risk Assessments,Risk Benefit Assessment,Risk-Benefit Assessments

Related Publications

Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
January 2005, Integrated environmental assessment and management,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
January 2005, Integrated environmental assessment and management,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
October 1990, Toxicology and industrial health,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
January 1992, Toxicology and industrial health,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
January 1991, Toxicology and industrial health,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
January 1990, Environmental and molecular mutagenesis,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
November 1998, Toxicology and applied pharmacology,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
July 1987, JAPCA,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
July 2008, Integrated environmental assessment and management,
Robert P DeMott, and Anita Balaraman, and Mary T Sorensen
October 1990, Toxicology and industrial health,
Copied contents to your clipboard!