This chapter presents a conceptual holistic approach to risk management. It considers risk management as part of a larger process. The chapter also presents a number of models that are useful to aid one's big-picture thinking about risk management and reviews some of the seminal phytosanitary risk...

This chapter proceeds to argue that every national plant protection organizations (NPPO) should establish a risk management process. It illuminates the content of that process by focusing, one by one, on the responsibilities of risk managers, risk assessors, and risk communicators in such a process.

Large amounts of sulfur dioxide are released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, by power plants and industrial facilities that utilize it for making chemicals like sulfuric acid, pesticides, preservatives, wine and other beverages. Atmospheric sulfur dioxide is itself an enormous ...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are global environmental pollutants of profound concern. Their presence is ubiquitous in water, air and soil. Their ecotoxicity is continuously under assessment and researchers are engaged linking their presence with risks for human health and wildlife. It is ...

Cadmium is a metal that has been extensively used for a wide variety of industrial applications in the past, but more recently the growing awareness of the adverse health effects has led to restrictions and ban of use in several applications. Cadmium is emitted into the environment via both natural ...

Radon is a rare natural radioactive gas. It produces solid progeny which emit alpha particles implicated in inducing cellular lesions in human bronchial epithelial tissue after inhalation. As early as the 15th century, increased rates of mortality due to respiratory diseases were observed in...

Ionizing radiation is the only established environmental risk factor for childhood leukaemia and tumours of the central nervous system. Indeed, there is consensus that cancer risk in humans increases after exposure to moderate and high doses of radiation. However, exposures to low-dose natural...

Persistent equivocation in virtually all sections of society and industry about the harmful effects of pollution have provided the impetus for the publication of A Handbook of Environmental Toxicology: Human Disorders and Ecotoxicology. This chapter is designed to collate and analyse recent...

This chapter provides a description of the risk concepts that risk managers need to understand in order to function in their jobs. It does not adhere strictly to the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) notions of risk management. Phytosanitary risk...

This chapter provides information on why uncertainty is critically important for risk managers to understand. Though a legitimate focal point for most risk analysis communities of practice, it remains somewhat subtle in its role in phytosanitary risk management. There is an opportunity for...