ABSTRACT
The general public is sophisticated enough to understand and endorse the idea of comparative risk assessment has been demonstrated in such situations as Canvey Island in Britain. Its 1979 food safety policy report analyzed the benefits of saccharin and of food-safety policies regarding mercury, nitrites and aflatoxin and its 1980 report, Regulating Pesticides, described the methods available for estimating marginal gains in crop yield and benefit expected from a candidate pesticide. The Congress has chosen a variety of roles for itself in risk assessment. An impressive contribution has been made by the Food Safety Council, a non-profit coalition of industrial, consumerist and other members, which has developed and published a thorough review of the technical problems associated with food risk assessment and made proposals that are under consideration by regulatory and other bodies. They deserve watching because they typify efforts to develop techniques, procedures, databases and focal centers for risk assessment outside of government.
