Hazard versus risk assessment in pesticide regulation
Most current pesticide regulatory processes are the exact antithesis of the precautionary principle: they are based on a risk assessment model with its underlying assumption that there is a ‘safe’ level below which a toxic pesticide is not toxic.267
The European Commission is the first to enshrine such an approach in modern law, complete with cut‐off criteria for certain hazardous qualities, such as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, developmental neurotoxicity, developmental immunotoxicity, and endocrine disruption. Unlike the old risk assessment model this approach does not assume that when a hazard exists the risk can be managed. Instead it is based on the view that if a particular hazard…show more content… Environmental constraints have forced the metal industry to reduce their emissions to water systems. Therefore, pretreatment for the removal of these harmful substances is the key factor in handling the industrial waste water. Conventional waste water cleaning technology does not meet all the new regulations. There is thus a need for new, more effective methods.
Current technologies available for removal of metals from aqueous solutions include: evaporation, ultrafiltration (complexation), precipitation and ion exchange resins.273 Capital costs and operation and maintenance commitments are high for these methods; furthermore, many of them subject operations personnel to additional risk. For example, ion exchange resins require regeneration which may involve hazardous solutions introduce staff to the risk of exposure to high activity wastes. Regeneration also introduces the problems associated with management of spent regenerate. An alternative strategy is to use low cost natural or synthetic materials as sorbent to immobilize contaminates, or to sense