Title: Legislating risk: the USA struggles to reform its policies for the assessment and management of risk

Authors: Stanley H. Abramson

Addresses: Partner, King & Spalding, 1730 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20006, USA

Abstract: This paper focuses on recent efforts in the United States to improve the federal government|s approach to regulating risk, with particular emphasis on legislation introduced in the Congress of the United States that was designed to reform and standardize risk assessment and risk management practices at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies with responsibility for health, safety, and environmental regulation. After reviewing the key provisions of the legislation and the potential impact of those provisions on EPA|s risk-related activities, the paper suggests certain fundamental principles that should guide the debate on reform of policies and procedures associated with risk.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis; regulatory reform; risk assessment; risk management; USA; United States; risk regulation; legislation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.1998.028261

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 1998 Vol.9 No.1, pp.108 - 125

Published online: 15 Sep 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article