Health Risk Assessment & the Precautionary Principle
Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Our discussion on Health Risk Assessment & the Precautionary Principle provided community members with an introduction to two different approaches to looking at protecting human health from environmental risks. Chris Shirley, an environmental scientist, addressed the use of health risk assessments that are used to determine how much harm is allowed or tolerable from a specific pollutant at a contaminated site. Karen Pierce of the Bay Area Working Group on the Precautionary Principle and Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates spoke about the use of the Precautionary Principle, which generally looks at how much harm we can avoid or how little risk is possible.

To Learn More:

• Bay Area Working Group on the Precautionary Principle (html) - a diverse collaborative of organizations and individuals that promotes and implements precautionary action to protect health and the environment.
• Bay Area Precautionary Principle Factsheet (100KB PDF) - an introduction to the precautionary principle and related community activism in the San Francisco Bay area
• San Francisco Department of the Environment Precautionary Principle (html) - online information about San Francisco's precautionary principle, the actual city code, and related background information and newspaper articles
• Community Guide to Superfund Risk Assessment (html) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's information for community members about health risk assessment
• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) (html) - U.S. federal agency that provides health information to prevent harmful exposures and disease related to toxic substances. The web site has basic factsheets on the known health risks with a wide range of specific toxic substances.
• A Citizen's Guide to Risk Assessments and Public Health Assessments (html) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry overview of two different assessments (risk assessment and the public health assessment) commonly performed at hazardous waste sites.
• Environmental Research Foundation (html) - Non-profit environmental organization that has a great deal of information on the precautionary principle and risk assessment, including "Reducing the Harms associated with Risk Assessments" (215KB PDF) and "Precautionary Guidance for Toxic Site Cleanup" (70KB MS Word).

About Our Community Environmental Education Series

The Community Window on the Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup hosts monthly discussions for the Bayview Community to keep you informed of important current environmental issues and how they affect your community. These events usually begin with a brief presentation on the month's topic followed by a friendly, informal group discussion. They are held on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 6:00PM at our office at 4634 Third Street (between Newcomb and McKinnon) in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood. These discussions are free and open to everyone in the Bayview/Hunters Point community.

For more information

Want more information? Call us at (415) 643-1190 with:

• Questions about an upcoming discussion;
• Suggestions of discussion topics for future events; or
• Opportunities to co-host a discussion with other community organizations or local agencies.

Return to the environmental education series main page.