Meeting the scientific needs of ecological RISK assessment in a regulatory context

摘要

During the past decade, the field of ecological risk assessment has progressed considerably. Advances have come from such international bodies as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO), and the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) (1-8). Risk assessments have played a critical role in the development of various regulations within the European Commission (EC) as well as in other parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, and Japan (9-17). But scientists and regulators are faced with three significant challenges: streamlining the risk-assessment process, quantifying risks in a spatially explicit manner, and acquiring the correct kind of environmental data to enable regulatory programs to effectively focus on future environmental protection activities.