Deck 6: Environmental Risk Analysis

Question 1

Actuarial risks are based on factual data.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

A reference dose (RfD) measures the daily exposure to some contaminant that can be tolerated over a person's lifetime.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Risk that is deliberately assumed is considered involuntary risk.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

According to the textbook application, exposure to radon gas is an example of a voluntary risk.

Question 5

In the first step of risk assessment, hazard identification, scientific information is used to determine if there is a causal relationship between a pollutant and its harmful effects.

Question 6

Within the process of risk assessment, the description of expected risk, how that risk was assessed, and those areas needing policy decisions is collectively known as exposure assessment.

Question 7

De minimis risk identifies the point at which risk is set to zero.

Question 8

Risk is the chance of something bad happening.

Question 9

The only level of "acceptable" risk to society is a risk level of zero.

Question 10

The EPA has developed the same guidelines for assessing both human health risks and ecological risks.

Question 11

The objective of risk management is to both identify risk and to respond to it.

Question 12

In an ecological risk assessment, the step in which the ecological entity that is potentially at risk is identified is called the analysis phase.

Question 13

According to the textbook application on the ecological risks associated with climate change, all such risks are known with certainty.

Question 14

Exposure to passive or secondhand smoke is a type of voluntary risk.

Question 15

All dose-response functions for environmental hazards have known thresholds.

Question 16

Risk analysis is an important element of environmental policy development.

Question 17

Both hazard and exposure define environmental risk, but each can independently affect the outcome.

Question 18

Risk assessment refers to only the quantitative evaluation of risk.

Question 19

According to the EPA model of human health risk assessment, the risk assessment phase is comprised of five distinct steps.

Question 20

Adults experience greater adverse health effects from exposure to lead than do children.

Question 21

In risk characterization, the quantitative component

A) can be presented as a probability
B) might include a reference dose (RfD) to communicate non-carcinogenic health risks
C) can be based on inferences instead of actual data
D) all of the above

Question 22

According to the textbook application, the EPA reported in 1993 that

A) secondhand smoke was a carcinogen
B) secondhand smoke was prohibited from public places
C) secondhand smoke did not pose a human health risk
D) none of the above

Question 23

Risk-benefit analysis and benefit-cost analysis are examples of risk management strategies.

Question 24

A reference dose (RfD) measures the amount of a

A) a pollutant one can be exposed to over a year without harm
B) a hazard one can be exposed to over a year before dying
C) an environmental hazard one can be exposed to over a lifetime before dying
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 25

Scientific methods used to identify environmental health hazards include all of the following EXCEPT

A) case clusters
B) epidemiological studies
C) problem formulation
D) animal bioassays

Question 26

Which of the following is NOT part of a risk characterization?

A) a qualitative component that includes a description of the hazard
B) a monetary component that assigns a dollar value to the risk
C) a quantitative component that gives the magnitude of the risk
D) an integrated analysis of the overall risk assessment process

Question 27

Which of the following are examples of involuntary risks?

A) skydiving
B) mountain climbing
C) being exposed to secondhand smoke
D) (b) and (c) only
E) none of the above

Question 28

According to the EPA, human health risk assessment includes all of the following steps EXCEPT

A) hazard identification
B) dose-response assessment
C) exposure assessment
D) risk characterization
E) analysis phase

Question 29

Risk assessment involves

A) balancing the costs and benefits of environmental hazards.
B) an evaluation of the risk caused by exposure to an environmental hazard
C) minimizing the costs of meeting an environmental objective
D) eliminating all environmental risks
E) none of the above

Question 30

All dose-response functions are

A) linear relationships
B) nonlinear relationships
C) vertical relationship
D) horizontal relationships
E) none of the above

Question 31

The EPA's database of identified environmental hazards is known by the acronym

A) IRIS
B) ISIS
C) RISK
D) IPCC

Question 32

Comparative risk analysis is aimed at minimizing the absolute level of a risk.

Question 33

Dose-response functions for environmental hazards

A) always have thresholds
B) are strictly linear
C) must arise from the origin
D) none of the above

Question 34

Which of the following are examples of voluntary risks?

A) driving an automobile
B) smoking cigarettes
C) being struck by lightning
D) (a) and (b) only
E) all of the above

Question 35

President Regan's Executive Order 12291 called for the explicit use of risk-benefit analysis.

Question 36

Economists support the use of allocative efficiency as a criterion to identify the "acceptable" level of risk.

Question 37

A dose-response function

A) identifies the threshold level of exposure by its vertical intercept
B) always graphs as a linear function
C) is an important element of the risk management process
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 38

In risk characterization, a reference dose (RfD) of 0.007 means that

A) 0.7 percent of people are exposed to the environmental hazard
B) exposure to 0.007 milligrams of a pollutant per body weight per day over a lifetime should cause no harm
C) there is a 0.007 percent probability that the pollutant causes no harm
D) 7 out of 1 million people are affected by the pollutant

Question 39

In defining environmental risk, exposure refers to the

A) source of environmental damage and the benefits of eliminating the damage
B) pathway between the source of the environmental damage and the affected population
C) pathway between the source of the environmental damage and the affected natural resource
D) all of the above
E) (b) and (c) only

Question 40

In the United States, all environmental laws set environmental risk at a level where the MSB equals the MSC.

Question 41

Suppose you are part of an economic analysis team charged with recommending a policy response to pesticide risks. Your team decides to use risk-benefit analysis as its risk management strategy.
a. On the risk side of the analysis, your team reviews the following data from the risk assessment process. Interpret each of these quantitative findings about pesticide risk, by stating precisely what the numerical value(s) mean or imply in each case. Be specific.
(i) Pesticide W: Reference Dose (RfD) = 0.005
(ii) Pesticide X: threshold level of 0 for infants and children
(iii) Pesticide Y: carcinogenic risk of 0.0075 percent
(iv) Pesticide Z: a dose (D)-response (R) function modeled as R = 0 for all D < 0.6, R = - 0.3 + 0.5D for all D $\ge$ 0.6.
b. On the benefit side of the analysis, briefly describe two distinct benefits to society that are relevant to a risk-benefit analysis of pesticides.

Question 42

According to the textbook application, radon

A) is a naturally occurring hazard
B) is an involuntary risk
C) poses no adverse health threat outdoors
D) all of the above
E) (a) and (b) only

Question 43

Benefit-cost analysis identifies the

A) allocatively efficient level of risk
B) the level of risk at which MSB and MSC of risk reduction are equal
C) both (a) and (b)
D) none of the above

Question 44

According to benefit-cost analysis

A) identification of the "acceptable" risk level is based on the criterion of allocative efficiency
B) the efficient risk level is found where the MSB and MSC of risk reduction are equal
C) the risk level associated with the maximum difference between TSB and TSC of risk reduction is allocatively efficient
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 45

Comparative risk analysis is

A) a risk assessment strategy
B) a risk management strategy
C) a risk characterization approach
D) none of the above

Question 46

According to the text application, the IPCC estimates that

A) Africa is the only continent vulnerable to climate change
B) ecological risk to North America will vary within the region
C) Europe should experience shorter growing seasons
D) Latin American should experience higher crop yields
E) all of the above

Question 47

The objective of risk management is to

A) determine the level of risk that is "acceptable" to society
B) evaluate and select the best policy approach to achieve the "acceptable" level of risk
C) evaluate and select the policy initiative to achieve any level of risk
D) (a) and (b) only
E) (a) and (c) only

Question 48

In the context of formulating environmental policy, President Reagan's Executive Order 12291 is primarily responsible for the increased use of

A) benefit-cost analysis
B) risk-risk analysis
C) risk-benefit analysis
D) relative risk reduction

Question 49

Following the initial planning process, the EPA's ecological risk assessment framework consists of phases that include all of the following EXCEPT

A) problem formulation
B) dose-response
C) analysis
D) risk characterization

Question 50

De minimis risk

A) is the goal required by law under President Reagan's Executive Order 12291
B) is applicable only to voluntary risk
C) is a negligible level of risk such that reducing it further would not be cost justified
D) is identical to a zero-risk standard

Question 51

An evaluation of relative risk is known as

A) risk-benefit analysis
B) comparative risk analysis
C) benefit-cost analysis
D) de minimis risk