De Minimis Risk

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. De Minimis Risk Regulation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. De Minimis Risk

      • Joseph Fiksel

      Pages 3-7

   3. De Minimis Risk as a Regulatory Tool

      • Joshua Menkes, R. Scott Frey

      Pages 9-13

   4. Application of the De Minimis Concept in Risk Management

      • Chris Whipple

      Pages 15-25

   5. Science and Its Limits

      • Alvin M. Weinberg

      Pages 27-38

3. Quantitative Aspects of De Minimis Risk

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 39-39

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   2. Significant Risk Is Not the Antonym of De Minimis Risk

      • Daniel Byrd III, Lester Lave

      Pages 41-60

   3. On Defining a De Minimis Risk Level for Carcinogens

      • Curtis C. Travis, Samantha A. Richter

      Pages 61-73

   4. De Minimis Risk and the Integration of Actual and Perceived Risks from Chemical Carcinogens

      • Paul Milvy

      Pages 75-86

   5. Carcinogenic Potencies and Establishment of a Threshold of Regulation for Food Contact Substances

      • W. Gary Flamm, L. Robert Lake, Ronald J. Lorentzen, Alan M. Rulis, Patricia S. Schwartz, Terry C. Troxell

      Pages 87-92

4. Regulatory Applications of De Minimis Risk

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 93-93

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   2. Implications of De Minimis Risk Concepts for OSHA

      • Raymond E. Donnelly

      Pages 95-99

   3. Applications of De Minimis

      • Sheldon Meyers

      Pages 101-104

   4. The NCRP Considerations on Levels of Negligible Risk

      • Charles B. Meinhold

      Pages 105-110

   5. A Summary Perspective on NRC’s Implicit and Explicit Use of De Minimis Risk Concepts in Regulating for Radiological Protection in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle

      • Miller B. Spangler

      Pages 111-143

   6. The Feasibility of Establishing a De Minimis Level of Radiation Dose and a Regulatory Cutoff Policy for Nuclear Regulation

      • Joyce P. Davis

      Pages 145-206

5. Back Matter

   Pages 207-208

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On May 29 and 30, 1985, a workshop was held to explore the legal, ethical, social, scientific, and practical aspects of the use of the de minimis risk concept for health and safety regulation. The workshop was sponsored by the Society for Risk Analysis and its National Capital Area Chapter, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Reg­ ulatory Commission, and the Electric Power Research Institute. The two-day meeting was held in Washington, D. C. , at the Brookings Institution; however, the Brookings Institution was not a sponsor of the meeting and did not playa role in its program. De minimis risk policy considerations were addressed from a theoretical and phil­ osophical viewpoint, from a quantitative and methodological basis, and through insights gained with regulatory applications. The distinctions between these three approaches to the subject are not sharp; most papers in these proceedings address aspects of all three topics. The reader familiar with the literature on the use of risk assessment in regulatory policy and decision making will find significant new contributions to the field. One of these is the examination of regulatory actions-in particular actions by the EPA-in response to risks of varying magnitude. Many attempts to seek patterns in regulatory policies have been based on analysis of the implicit economic value in obtaining risk reductions. These analyses have typically found great variability in the marginal cost­ 1 effectiveness of regulatory actions.

• Institution
• Integration
• Nation
• environment
• research

• Energy Study Center, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, USA

  Chris Whipple

Policies and ethics