ABSTRACT
Environmental risk assessment (in Europe) and equivalent processes including ecological risk assessment (United States) and ecosystem risk assessment (Japan) are collectively referred to in this chapter as ERA. They each involve the scientic analysis and characterization of environmental hazards (frequently chemicals) based on the predicted likelihood and level of exposure, versus the predicted severity of any consequent adverse effects. The discovery of “endocrine disruption” in wildlife due to natural hormones and synthetic mimics (endocrine disrupting chemicals, EDCs) in the last two decades has challenged the established ERA process, because very low exposure levels may illicit adverse effects including nonmonotonic responses in exposed organisms (Section 3.1.2). Accepting that it is impossible to legislate to protect every organism, especially when some natural losses are inevitable (for example, due to climatic stress or predation), the aims of ERA are to ensure the sustainability of populations to protect species and maintain the structure and functioning of ecosystems in which they live.
