摘要：This paper seeks to inform the current "regulatory reform" effort in the U.S. bydescribing how information from risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses is used by decisionmakers in six other industrialized countries. In Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom,Netherlands, Canada and the European Union decision makers deal with uncertaintiesassociated with risk assessments differently than in the U.S. They are less likely to employ"default assumptions" to bridge uncertainties and instead tailor risk evaluations to the chemicalin question. Furthermore, while U.S. agencies are sometimes required to pair information fromrisk assessments with data from cost-benefit analyses in order to estimate how much it costs tostem or avert environmental and health effects, the decision makers in the six study regimesprimarily use such information to set standards, screen chemicals, and identify potentialsubstitutes for hazardous chemicals. Respondents in the study countries say that bothquantitative risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis presently contain too many uncertaintiesto yield meaningful results. However, trade liberalization and shrinking government budgetsare stirring greater interest abroad in how the U.S. conducts and uses risk assessments.
关键词：regulatory reform; risk assessment; cost-benefit analysis; international environmental;regulation
