title: Standardization of procedures and structures for risk evaluation in Germany--the work of the Risk Commission.
abstract: Risk evaluation in Germany is characterized by the uncoordinated involvement of various governmental and non-governmental institutions, by lacking transparency, by mingling of scientific risk assessment and political risk management, and by unsatisfactory public participation. Within the frame of the German Environmental Health Action Program the Ministers of Health and the Environment established a commission to develop recommendations for the reorganization of procedures and structures for risk evaluation within health-orientated environmental protection in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Risk Commission recently published its first report. It recommends strict separation of risk assessment and risk management; implementation of a clear procedural framework, risk communication as an integrated element of the whole process of risk evaluation and finally the establishment of two permanent co-ordinating institutions.
authors.affiliation: Behörde für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Seewartenstr. 10, D-20149 Hamburg, Germany. andreas.kappos@bug.hamburg.de
authors.forename: Andreas D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Kappos
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D004782:Environmental Health; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D011050:Policy Making; D011640:Public Policy; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants