Health risk assessment, or herein risk assessment (RA) for short, is the process or function by which the potential adverse health effects of human exposure to etiologic agents are characterized and assessed. Insofar as social choice has a great impact on PH and on its administrative structures or contexts, the process of performing RA is likewise bound by social values and regulations. The case studies presented in the classic book Acceptable Risk? by Lee Clarke (1989) clearly illustrate this point. As stressed by its author, “The premise of this book is that organizations are central actors in assessing, mitigating, and accepting risks.”

To gain a better understanding of how RA can be influenced by social values or public concerns, students are referred to the landmark book Silent Spring by the well-known environmentalist Rachel Carson (1962). U.S. Vice President Al Gore recently introduced both this landmark book and the author, on the White House Office of Vice President’s 24 Hours in Cyberspace, by saying that “The Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970, in large part because of the concerns and the consciousness that Rachel Carlson had raised [in her book].”