Recent paradigms for risk informed decision making

Any project aimed at technical harmonisation of risk assessment procedures should not ignore recent theories and policy recommendations on risk governance. For this reason, it is opportune to review the shift of paradigms for risk based decision making, which seem now to inform policy discussion on both sides of the Atlantic. Early deliberations on risk advocated a three-stage approach: establish the probability and magnitude of the hazards respecting the inherent scientific uncertainties (a technical process), evaluate the benefits and costs (a social process), and set priorities in such a way that the greatest social benefits are achieved at the lowest cost. In this perspective, the risk assessment phase was strictly separated from the management. Recent paradigms call for a participatory procedure, in which the different stakeholders are involved early in the risk analysis process to "characterise" risks, even before they are given a formal assessment. This does not diminish the role of modelling and quantification, but is aimed at eliciting the "values" and the perspectives of the community involved so that the multiple dimensions of risk can be taken into account early on in the assessment. Furthermore, the implications on risk assessment of the precautionary principle, on which the EU health and environmental policy is based, are briefly discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.