ABSTRACT
Hazard identification is a qualitative evaluation of an agent's ability to produce cancer and the relevance of this to humans. Hazard assessment ranges from an informal process to formal procedures established in regulations or in law. It requires interdisciplinary evaluation of a broad range of information. Hazard identification has a history on its own, and has been built into law, regulation, and practice as an independent activity. Many laws and regulations base cancer risk management entirely on hazard identification. A number of screening methods used to identify pollutant emissions of importance or to set priorities for monitoring or regulatory action among many different pollutants from the same or different sources might also be considered a form of hazard assessment. Hazard assessment frequently focuses on the possibility of harm without regard to its probability.
