Risk-based environmental decisions : culture and methods.

Includes bibliographical references and index

Risk, rationality and decisions -- The structure of environmental risk assessments -- Assessing exposure -- Exposure-response assessment -- Regulatory science: risk and decisions -- Uncertainty and variability analysis -- Risk, systems analysis and optimization

Presents the principles of human health risk analysis as they are applied in environmental decisions. It balances the discussion of scientific theory and methods, philosophical analysis, and applications in regulatory decisions. The material is directed towards risk analysts who must apply their skills in a policy setting, and towards policy analysts who must use risk estimates. The presentation is suited ideally as an introductory text on the methods of risk analysis and on the cultural issues that underlie these methodologies. An important feature of this book is that it is designed around a series of detailed case studies of environmental risk analysis which walk the reader from the historical nature of the problem, to the formulation as a risk-based problem, to the conduct of risk analysis, and on to the application, debate, and defense of the risk analysis