The following
information appears in a box on page 24 of the printed report.
How Should Risks Be
Analyzed?
- Clarify the factual and scientific basis
of the risks posed by the problem, treating health and
ecological risks both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Describe the nature of the adverse effects, their
severity, and their reversibility or preventability.
Identify who is at risk and when they are at risk, and
explain the possibility of multiple effects. Evaluate the
weight of the scientific evidence and identify the
primary sources of uncertainty. For ecological risks,
consider indirect effects on human health through
disruption of the environment and possible effects on
future generations.
- With input from the problem/context stage,
put the specific risks posed by the problem into their
multisource, multimedia, multichemical, and multirisk
contexts.
- Identify stakeholder perceptions of the
risks posed by the problem.
- Combine information on the scientific and
contextual aspects of the risks posed by the problem into
a characterization of the problem’s risks to human
health or the environment. Include descriptions of
stakeholder perceptions and any other social or cultural
impacts of the problem.