ABSTRACT
Risk assessment is designed as a science-based tool to help policy makers discern specific public health threats, to gauge their relative severity, and to establish priorities and allocate limited resources to address them. Used appropriately, risk assessment serves as a rational basis for protecting human health and the environment from risks due to toxic chemicals. However, risk assessment is not a panacea. Scientific uncertainty is a fundamental characteristic of all risk assessments, and uncertainty places limits on risk assessment as a decision-making tool. How to prioritize risks that are judged to be significant but whose relative magnitudes are difficult to gauge represents a considerable challenge. Nevertheless, risk assessment provides a basis for stakeholders to exercise reason, imagination, and common sense as they go about the arduous task of negotiating acceptable levels of risk from toxic chemicals.
