RIASSUNTO
Introduction
Regulatory agencies use environmental assessments as the best available indicators of information on national conditions and trends in air, water, land, human health, and ecological systems. The results from these assessments are used in legislative discussions and proceedings to promulgate laws and regulations which have far reaching impacts and consequences on many industries and companies across the country.
To arrive at the health of the environment, United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) uses risk assessment to characterize the nature and magnitude of health risks to humans (e.g., residents, workers, and recreational visitors) and ecological receptors (e.g., birds, fish, other wildlife) from chemical contaminants and other stressors that may be present in the environment. Similarly state agencies use risk assessment strategies to develop environmental standards.
While there are many definitions for “risk”, USEPA considers risk to be the chance of harmful effects to human health or to ecological systems resulting from exposure to an environmental stressor. Also, according to USEPA, a stressor is any physical, chemical, or biological entity that can induce an adverse response. Stressors may adversely affect specific natural resources or entire ecosystems, including plants and animals, as well as the environment with which they interact.