Technology, health risks

National Science and Technology Council, Interagency Assessment of Potential Health Risks Associated with Oxygenated Gasoline, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, 1996. 

The TAN BREF document is at the moment revised, but a new version is expected to be adopted by the end of November 2012. The document contains information about the leather industry in general, the leather industry in EU, conventional technologies used, BAT and also emission levels which are possible to be achieved by the use of BAT. The document includes information of substitution of chemicals in the industry. However, the document does not specifically address human health risks due to chemicals in the products since that subject is covered by other legislation within the EU. However, the document gives guidance on use of alternative chemicals as an alternative to the use of several problematic chemicals. 

In broad terms risk assessments are carried out to examine the effects of an agent on humans (Health Risk Assessment) and ecosystems (Ecological Risk Assessment). Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) is the examination of risks resulting from technology that threaten ecosystems, animals and people. It includes human health risk assessments, ecological or ecotoxicological risk assessments, and specific industrial applications of risk assessment that examine end-points in people, biota or ecosystems. 

The most significant issue with the fielding of a neutron-based explosive detection technology is pubfic perception. Most people have difficulty putting into perspective low probabihty high consequence events. This has resulted in the word nuclear being associated with health risks and environmental issues even when detailed analysis shows that there is no issue. 

EPA. 1998. Health risk assessmenUcharacterization of the drinking water disinfection by-products chlorine dioxide and chlorite. Washington, DC U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Science and Technology, Office ofWater. EPA-PB99-111361. 

ATMOSPHERIC SULFUR DEPOSITION—David S. Shriner SYNTHETIC FOSSIL FUEL TECHNOLOGY—K. E. Cowser PLASTIC-PACKED TRICKLING FILTERS—Erik Sarner SLUDGE—HEALTH RISKS OF LAND APPLICATION—Gabriel Bitton WASTEWATER ENGINEERING DESIGN FOR UNSEWERED AREAS— Rein Laak... 

Thus, assessments of long-term health risks to the public, including future inadvertent intruders at near-surface disposal sites, are important in selecting disposal technologies for radioactive wastes... 

Another desirable attribute of a waste classification system that is a corollary of the system being risk-based is that it treat wastes that pose similar health risks consistently. A chemically hazardous waste estimated to pose a certain risk should be in the same waste class as a radioactive waste that poses an equivalent risk, and similarly for mixed waste. Consistency also implies that wastes posing similar risks could be disposed of using essentially the same technology (municipal/industrial landfill, licensed near-surface facility for hazardous waste, or geologic repository). 

CAST (1989) Mycotoxins, Economics and Health Risks. ReportNo. 116. Councilfor Agricultural Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa. 

Mazur, Allan. 2004. True Warnings and False Alarms Evaluating Fears about the Health Risks of Technology, 1948—1971. Washington D.C. Resources for the Future. 

Considerable effort will be required to develop approaches to incorporating data from molecular studies and generated from new technologies (e.g. genomic) into a meaningful framework for children s health risk assessments. 

P. F. Deisler, "Dealing with Industrial Health Risks A Stepwise, Goal-oriented Concept," Chapter 15, AAAS Special Symposium 65, "Risk in the Technological Society," Ed. by C. Hohenemser and J. Kaspreson, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 1982. 

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