Risk assessment European Union initiatives

The REACH system was initiated to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risk that can be posed by chemicals, to enhance the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry (a key sector for European economy), to promote alternative methods for the assessment of hazards of substances, and to ensure the free circulation of substances on the international market of the European Union. The regulation was formally enforced on 1 June 2007. However, according to the REACH schedule, the registration procedures started from 1 June 2008 [1, 2]. 

Suter et al. 1993 Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry [SETAC] 1994 European Union 1997 Ecological Committee on FIFRA Risk Assessment Methods [ECOFRAM] 1999 Campbell et al. 1999). The initial use of conservative assessment criteria (i.e., err on the side of caution) allows substances that do not present a risk to be eliminated from the risk assessment process early, thus allowing the focus of resources and expertise to be shifted to potentially more problematic substances or situations. As one ascends through the tiers, the estimates of exposure and effects become more realistic with the acquisition of more accurate and/or representative data, and uncertainty in the extrapolation of effects is thus reduced or at least better characterized. Likewise, the methods of extrapolation may become more sophisticated as one ascends through the tiers (Figure 1.2). 

The Pesticide Risk Assessment Peer Review Unit (PRAPeR) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is responsible for the peer review of initial risk assessments of active substances. For each substance, a member state carries out this initial risk assessment, which is presented in a draft assessment report (DAR) that is then peer reviewed by experts across the European Union (EU) in a process... 

Cardona OD, Ordaz MG, Reinoso E, Yamm LE, Barbar AH (2012) CAPRA - comprehensive approach to probabilistic risk assessment international initiative for risk management effectiveness, hr Proceedings of the 15th world conference of earthquake engineering, Lisbon, 24—28 Sept 2012 Cavalieri E et al (2013) Application and validation study to an electric power network in Italy, hr Pitilakis K, Argyroudis S (eds) Systemic seismic vulnerability and loss assessment validation studies SYNER-G. Reference report 6, Publications Office of the European Union, doi 10.2788/16706... 

---