Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented a
comprehensive review of the scientific literature in its 2003 draft
reassessment of the risks of dioxin, the agency did not sufficiently
quantify the uncertainties and variabilities associated with the risks, nor
did it adequately justify the assumptions used to estimate them,
according to a new report from the National Academies' National Research
Council.
The committee that wrote the report recommended that EPA re-estimate
the risks using several different assumptions and better communicate the
uncertainties in those estimates. The agency also should explain more
clearly how it selects both the data upon which the reassessment is
based and the methods used to analyze them.
Copies of HEALTH RISKS FROM DIOXIN AND RELATED COMPOUNDS:
EVALUATION OF THE EPA REASSESSMENT are available to purchase
from:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11688.html
There is a 6-page briefing PDF (free) from:
http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/di ...
The original EPA draft reassessment of the risks of dioxin can be viewed
at:
http://www.epa.gov/ncea/pdfs/dioxin/na ...
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