Cancer risk assessment linearity assumption

Judicial decisions in nonregulatory contexts such as toxic tort and product liability suits are likewise inconsistent in their consideration of the linear, no threshold model. As in the regulatory context, most cases find no problem with an expert s reliance on a risk assessment using the linear model. In a handful of cases, however, the court rejects reliance on a linear dose-response assumption. Eor example, one court in addressing the cancer risks from a low concentration of benzene in Perrier held that there is no scientific evidence that the linear no-safe threshold analysis is an acceptable scientific technique used by experts in determining causation in an individual instance (Sutera 1997). Another court decision concluded that [t]he linear non-threshold model cannot be falsified, nor can it be validated. To the extent that it has been subjected to peer review and publication, it has been rejected by the overwhelming majority of the scientific community. It has no known or potential rate of error. It is merely an hypothesis (Whiting 1995). The inconsistency and unpredictability of judicial review of risk assessments adds an additional element of uncertainty into the risk assessment process. 

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