About this series EMCDDA Risk Assessments are publications examining the health and social risks of individual new psychoactive substances. The Risk Assessment Report consists of an analysis of the scientific and law enforcement information available on the new psychoactive substance under scrutiny and the implications of placing it under control. It is the outcome of a meeting convened under t...

Two recent articles in EHP (1,2) and the latest Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry toxicologic profile for DDT (3) make repeated references to DDT risks. These statements of risk, like so many others, are one-sided and give no consideration to colossal increases in diseases previously controlled with DDT. Behind disease statistics are grievous human tragedies, as with the case of ...

R egulated products such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), plant protection products (PPPs) or feed additives for livestock are subject to an environmental risk assessment before they can be approved for use in agriculture. This assessment aims to evaluate any possible risk that the deployment of such products may pose to the environment. Robust environmental risk assessments require an...

Risk assessments performed at the conceptual design phase of a product may offer the greatest opportunity to increase product safety and reliability at the least cost. This is an especially difficult proposition, however, as often the product has not assumed a physical form at this early design stage. This paper introduces the Risk in Early Design (RED) method, a method for performing risk asse...