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1 Approaches to Decision Making
Pages 9-20

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From page 9...
... Human–Environment Network: Challenges to Environmental Health Christopher J Portier, Ph.D., Director, Office of Risk Assessment Research, NIEHS Risk analysis and risk decision making consist of balancing the needs of science, economics, and society.
From page 10...
... With regard to human health and the factors that impact it, four overarching categories are basic needs, shelter factors, personal factors, and endogenous factors. All four are social determinants of health and play an interactive role in environmental health, yet only endogenous factors cannot be changed by individuals (Figure 1-2)
From page 11...
... Scientists and doctors have begun to see the earth's temperatures rise and, along with that, a direct effect on human and environmental health. With increases in climate change, the quality of the air may change, resulting in an impact on the ozone level and a reduction in smog clearance.
From page 12...
... Finally, there is the larger question of the impact of these individual regulations on air quality and climate change overall. Risk decision making for environmental health in the future will need to be based on a holistic view of the global network and its interactions.
From page 13...
... Scientists and policy makers therefore need to look at the emerging areas of science to find ways to incorporate this research into the environmental health decision-making process. The ultimate goal would be to use scientific evidence to guide exploration into the environmental causes of disease and remove these hazards from the environment.
From page 14...
... Too often in the scientific community, among many other professions, there are many obstacles to good decision making, including a narrow power base that leads to narrow decision making and the fact that human nature is often strongly habit based, and decisions are made in ways that stifle creativity and ingenuity. Several key elements in current environmental health decision-making processes contribute to less than optimal environmental health outcomes: • The assumption that lack of toxicological evidence equals lack of risk.
From page 15...
... Different types of doubt exist for different types of environmental health decisions, so it is important to ask some questions about perceived or claimed uncertainty. For example, who is the beneficiary or beneficiaries of continued uncertainty?
From page 16...
... Goldstein, M.D., Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Public Health Approach Many environmental health decisions have been made from what others have described as fragmented, narrow, "reductionist" approaches. With the recent resurgence of awareness in many environmental areas, such as global climate change, the timing is right to refocus efforts on making decisions that benefit the health of the public by addressing issues holistically.
From page 17...
... . A less stringent standard, whose public health significance has been rejected by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, would result in a difference in risk of developing liver cancer of less than one case a year in Europe (Majone, 2002)
From page 18...
... Some participants suggested that new approaches or understandings of the conflict may help improve risk assessment and environmental health decision making. The central theme of the three presentations was the need for a systems approach to environmental health decision making that encompasses the increasing complexity of the environment and avoids overburdening the thought process behind decisions.
From page 19...
... He also pointed out the importance of a policy maker or science agency deciding that there has been sufficient input solicited and adequate data gathered to make a decision. O'Brien countered that the collaborative group itself needs to be linked to action and that there is a need to put limits on the data process.


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