Source: RISK newsletter,
Fourth Quarter 1995, published by the Society for Risk Analysis
The Japan Section of the Society for Risk Analysis recently accepted a research contract with the Division of Environmental Health and Safety of the Environment Agency, Japan, to produce a report on the measures and approaches of risk management concerned with reducing environmental and health risks in terms of risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication. The contract period of one year will have a budget of 3 million yen (around $30,000 US).
In 1994, the Environmental Agency, Japan, established the Basic Plan of Environmental Preservation, following the enactment of the Basic Environmental Law of 1993, which resulted from concerns of global and intergenerational issues. These concerns, which originally focused primarily on pollution-based health damages, now include health risks due to carcinogens and to hazardous chemicals and heavy metals. In addition, the preservation of biological diversity has been included as a principal concern. With all of these issues to be considered, the agency is focusing on risk-based decision making.
The contract marks the second request that the Japan Section of SRA has received from an outside organization to conduct research. The Central Reasearch Institute of Power Generation, a private organization, provided the first contract. However, the second contract is from a government organization, which means Japan's government has officially acknowledged the Japan Section of SRA as a research body in Japan's environmental policy arena.
The section is publishing the proceedings of its spring symposium on product liability and risk communication in the Japanese Journal of Risk Analysis, Volume 7, Number 1. The volume, written in Japanese, will also include the table of contents and the abstracts in English.
(Editor's Note: See also, Yokoyama,
Morgan Are Plenary Speakers.)