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Risk Models Used in Public Health Decision-Making: Keeping Them Freely Available
Christine F. Chaisson, Paul S. Price, The LifeLine Group
Risk assessment models are used for quantifying risk, setting research and investment priorities, regulating chemicals and products available to the public and setting standards for air, water, diet and other elements of our environment. They are equally, if not more, powerful than the underlying research data in the decision-making process. Yet, historically these models have been closed to public scrutiny, operated only by a few industries and the government groups who regulate them. Even as “transparency” becomes the “in vogue” mantra, it has many masks and elusive forms. Peer review is sketchy at best and few review groups truly understand the inner workings of the models and the way data are used to evolve answers.
The LifeLine Group has supported the campaign to make these models “transparent, accessible and meaningful”. This presentation is an overview of critical existing and emerging issues that can prevent such models from being truly transparent, truly accessible or truly meaningful within the public health policy and regulatory applications.
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