Risk management methylmercury

A Risk-Management Strategy for PCB-Contaminated Sediments (2001) Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury (2000)... 

This is confusing. Why don t risk assessors simply decide what level of exposure is safe for each chemical, and risk managers simply put into effect mechanisms to ensure that industry reaches the safe level Why should different sources of risk be treated differently Why apply a no risk standard to certain substances (e.g., those intentionally introduced into food, such as aspartame) and an apparently more lenient risk-henefit standard to unwanted contaminants of food such as PCBs, methylmercury, and aflatoxins (which the FDA applies under another section of food law) Why allow technological limitations to influence any decision about health What is this risk-henefit balancing nonsense Aren t some of these statutes simply sophisticated mechanisms to allow polluters to expose people to risk ... 

Charnley G. Assessing and managing methylmercury risks associated with power plant mercury emissions in the United States. MedGenMed 2006 9(8) 64. 

On November 18-20, 1998, a workshop on Scientific Issues Relevant to the Assessment of Health Effects from Exposure to Methylmercury was conducted in Raleigh, North Carolina. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and ATSDR. The purpose of this workshop was to discuss and evaluate the major epidemiologic studies that associated methylmercury exposure and the results of an array of developmental measures in children. These studies monitored and evaluated exposed populations in Iraq, the Seychelles Islands, the Faroe Islands, and the Amazon River Basin. A number of animal studies were also considered in support of a human health risk assessment. 

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