ABSTRACT
When dealing with effects on the atmosphere, the risk management is concerned with inputs into the atmosphere. The risks are therefore risks associated with the release of the agent, and uncertainties concerning the relationship between amount in the atmosphere and end-effect are uncertainties in defining the hazard. It is more difficult to disentangle effects on human health and effects on the wider environment. Although we may be dealing with regional or global effects, many atmospheric pollutants cross national boundaries. Control of much atmospheric pollution is based on international agreements. To an extent, transnational effects also occur when dealing with the aqueous environment, as with some of the major river systems and the North Sea, and are dealt with on the basis of international agreements, such as the ‘OSPAR’ (Oslo/Paris) agreements concerning control of pollution of the North Sea. However, international agreements become a much more notable feature of risk assessment when dealing with transnational air pollution problems and are the only effective ways by which global pollution problems can be tackled.
