NR AWDN
AU Comer,P.J.
TI TSE-risk assessments - an overview
QU International Conference - Prion 2006: Strategies, advances and trends towards protection of society - 3.10.-6.10.2006, Torino, Italy, Lingotto Conference Centre - Oral sessions ORAL-06
PT Konferenz-Vortrag
AB Risk Assessment as we now recognise it has its origins in the risk assessments carried out for the US nuclear power programme in the 1970s. It was taken up and developed as a tool to help manage major hazards in the process industries and has now become a ubiquitous part of our modern life. Risk assessment is firmly embedded in the approach taken by the European Union and other countries to a broad range of policy issues. Risk Assessment has been part of the approach to managing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) since it was first identified as a new disease in cattle in 1986, but it was not until 1996, following the discovery of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) and its possible link to BSE, that quantitative risk assessment was used to assess the potential exposure of people to the BSE infective agent. Since 1996 there have been many risk assessments carried out as part of decision making processes on BSE and the other TSEs; for example: decisions on whether to ban beef on the bone in the UK (1997), the replacement of the over thirty month rule by BSE testing (2003), the age limit in cattle for the removal of SRM (2005). As the risk from BSE reduces in Europe it is expected that there will be a gradual relaxation of some of the control measures that have been put in place to protect human health as set out in the EC's TSE Roadmap published last year. It is more than likely that any significant change will need to be supported by a re-assessment of the risk so that such changes can be justified. In carrying out a TSE risk assessment it is important that the uncertainties and limitations of the data used are recognised and incorporated in the assessment as far as possible. This is complicated because some of the factors remain difficult to quantify and are still subject to scientific debate, e.g., the amount of infective material required to infect a human. Despite such limitations, quantitative risk assessment can still provide valuable inputs to the decision making process.
AD DNV Consulting, London, United Kingdom. E-mail: Philip.Comer@dnv.com
SP englisch
PO Italien