ABSTRACT
Risk analysis is a portmanteau for the several risk-related disciplines grouped within the “risk labyrinth” (see Figure 14.1). This labyrinth has many overlapping components with strong feedback loops among them. This chapter focuses on the component of risk assessment (RA). Although the chapter focus is on RA, for policy, risk management (RM) has central importance. Furthermore, in most cases with regulatory significance, significant overlap and feedback exist between the two functions. For example, monitoring results obtained as a result of risk management decisions concerning a genetically modified organism (GMO) crop (see Chapter 2) can feed back to produce a revised risk assessment. Risk management goals should guide the nature and extent of a risk assessment. Consequently, attempts by regulators to artificially compartmentalize the two functions are likely to result in poorer risk regulation decisions except where the uncertainty in the RA is small. Because this book (and this chapter in particular) is concerned with the problem of significant uncertainty, some reference to this interface is inevitable. The Risk Labyrinth https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781936331802/ee4fc10a-c406-4502-a804-80234e4cd420/content/fig14_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
