Risk management considerations for cost-effective environmental decisionmaking

摘要

Governmental regulations have dictated that industry provide detailed listings of their input materials, wastes, and emissions to the public and perform risk assessments to demonstrate compliance with standards. These regulations were designed to make industry more accountable and to give the public information that would allow them to understand risks and either work for change or accept their living conditions. This process would appear to be rational, fair, and acceptable to both industry and the public. However, our inability to reach agreement on questions such as 'How Clean is Clean.' or 'Is It Safe.' after more than ten years of scientific and public discussions, coupled with the frequency of environmental demonstrations throughout the world, serves as evidence that 'acceptable risk' has not yet been defined.