Existing chemicals risk assessment

EC (2008) Risk assessment reports on phthalates. European Commission. European Chemicals Bureau. http //ecb.rc.it/home.php CONTENU=/DOCUMENTS/Existing-Chemicals/RISK ASSESSMENT/... 

European Union, European Chemicals Bureau. 2003. Risk Assessment Report-Bisphenol-A (http //ecb.jrc.it/ DOCUMENTS/Existing-Chemicals/RISK ASSESSMENT/REPORT/bisphenolareport325.pdf—accessed February 13,2007), p.259. 

Bayesian statistics are applicable to analyzing uncertainty in all phases of a risk assessment. Bayesian or probabilistic induction provides a quantitative way to estimate the plausibility of a proposed causality model (Howson and Urbach 1989), including the causal (conceptual) models central to chemical risk assessment (Newman and Evans 2002). Bayesian inductive methods quantify the plausibility of a conceptual model based on existing data and can accommodate a process of data augmentation (or pooling) until sufficient belief (or disbelief) has been accumulated about the proposed cause-effect model. Once a plausible conceptual model is defined, Bayesian methods can quantify uncertainties in parameter estimation or model predictions (predictive inferences). Relevant methods can be found in numerous textbooks, e.g., Carlin and Louis (2000) and Gelman et al. (1997). 

The primary purpose of this Report is to present NCRP s recommendations on classification of hazardous wastes. The Report is directed at a multidisciplinary audience with different levels of technical understanding in the fields of radiation and chemical risk assessment and radioactive and chemical waste management. Anew hazardous waste classification system is proposed that differs from the existing classification systems for radioactive and hazardous chemical wastes in two fundamental respects. First, hazardous waste would be classified based on considerations of health risks to the public that arise from disposal of waste. Hazardous waste would not be classified based, for example, on its source. Second, the classification system would apply to any hazardous waste, and separate classification systems for radioactive and hazardous chemical wastes would not be retained. In the proposed system, waste would be classified based only on its properties, and the same rules would apply in classifying all hazardous wastes. 

Previous sections have presented technical and historical information on radiation and chemical risk assessment and on classification of radioactive and hazardous chemical wastes. This information provides important perspectives for establishing the foundations of a new hazardous waste classification system. Before establishing these foundations, it is useful to specify the attributes that an ideal waste classification system should possess. The following sections identify the desirable attributes of a waste classification system including that the system should be risk-based, it should allow for exemption of waste, and it should be comprehensive, consistent, intrinsic, comprehensible, quantitative, compatible with existing systems, and flexible. These attributes should be recognized as goals that are not all likely to be fully realized in a practical waste classification system. 

A key issue that drives chemical risk assessment as well as evaluations of the health impacts of existing pollution is whether chemicals produce combination effects when they are present at levels that individually do not induce observable effects. It is often... 

A special managing institution (Central Chemicals Bureau in Fig. 16.5) for chemicals control could be connected to an existing governmental agency with scientific and technical tasks and qualifications in the area of chemicals risk assessment and management. 

A Chemical Safety Report that documents chemical risk assessments must be prepared for substances that a company manufactures or imports at >10 tonnes per year. If a substance is identified as dangerous or very persistent and very bioaccumulative (VPVB), a set of exposure scenarios detailing the relevant risk management measures necessary to reduce exposures must be attached as an Annex to existing Safety Data Sheets. 

A particular basis of the targets relates to the fact that existing EU risk assessment procedures do not consider the persistence and accumulation of chemicals in the marine environment. To control these potential risks, the UBA identifies the need to adopt a comprehensive strategy for the protection of the marine environment. In addition to action specifically aimed at protecting the marine environment and establishing an authorisation procedure, the UBA proposes a combination of the following measures. 

Similarly, many significant differences exist between the EEC and Nordic countries in relation to chemical risk assessment, though they all have aspirations to harmonize their regulations. These countries have more substances classifled as carcinogens than the EC, based on results from animal tests. The EC gives more importance to human experience. 

OECD. 2002. Co-operation on Existing Chemicals—Hazard Assessment of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate and its Salts. ENV/JM/RD(2002)17/FINAL. Robust Study Report Reference No. 8 - Early Life-Stage Toxicity Test with the Fathead Minnow Pimephales promelas), pp. 114-117. Available at http / /www.oecd.org/ env/ehs/risk-assessment/2382880.pdf (accessed March 7, 2014). 

Transportation should be considered when assessing risks associated with planned or existing plants. The design of new chemical processing units should include at the earliest opportunity a qualitative or quantitative risk assessment of the whole system including production, use, and transportation in order to minimize overall risk. A brief discussion of the inherent safety aspects of transportation is included in Chapter 5. 

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