Eighty-two thousand chemicals--both natural and man-made--are used today. Some of these chemicals do not produce notable adverse health outcomes, but others can be toxic and harmful to anyone exposed. Currently, we know very little about basic properties of the majority of these chemicals and even less about the human health impact of these exposures. Given the sheer number of chemicals in use today, it can be difficult to balance their use with the protection of human health. Regulation should create a clear and balanced decision-making process for considering the scientific evidence and translating that information into policy and regulation of these chemicals.
Effective decision-making processes are utilized by environmental health agencies to develop guidelines for their own operations that have a direct impact on human health. Environmental health decision making is not solely based on scientific evidence, but also takes into account ethics, economics, and other factors. Furthermore, there are different approaches to decision making, such as how much precaution needs to occur or how to weigh the evidence.
On January 15, 2008, the workshop Environmental Health Sciences Decision Making: Risk Management, Evidence, and Ethics addressed emerging issues in risk management, weight of evidence, and ethics that influence environmental health decision making. The workshop engaged science interest groups, industry, government, and the academic sector to understand better decision-making processes and best practices for environmental health research.