REGULATORY RISK COMMUNICATION

An important part of the risk management process involves informing consumers, industry and other stakeholders of the decisions made by regulatory authorities. However, this is a narrow view of risk communication that does not take into account the potential for dialogue between interested parties that can result in better decision-making. Understanding how consumers view the potential risks associated with food additives can help to avoid either under- or over-regulation. 

In the area of risk communication, the regulatory agencies should continue to be flexible in the way information is presented to the public regarding drug residues. Continuing efforts are needed to combat false and misleading consumer perceptions of the hazards of drug residues in the tissues of food animals. 

Examples of product class carcinogenicity hazard identifications and assessments and ultimate risk communications for biopharmaceuticals approved in the United States for chronic use or based on potential cause for concern are provided in Table 19.4a (products without carcinogenicity assessment) and Table 19.4b (products with carcinogenicity assessment). The data are derived from publicly available regulatory assessments and product labels. Specific examples are discussed below. 

Rather than evaluate risks and the corresponding perceptions that establish risk levels, the thesis proposes to examine the extent of regulatory action necessary to ensure the correct management of a hazardous material and the likelihood that there is the need to take such a regulatory response. Extent of regulatory action therefore describes the scope and degree of risk communication, control and enforcement that regulators could need to take to respond to risk and social perceptions of risk. 

The aims in risk communication are first to involve or inform all participants in the food chain, including marketing companies, regulatory authorities, and consumers, of the nature of risks associated with drug residues in foods, and then to provide assurance that precautionary principles have been applied to the generation and interpretation of data and the adoption of standards that ensure a safe food supply. 

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