National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), P.O. Box 95, FI-70701 Kuopio, Finland.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Jan;50(1):40-55. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2011.06.004. Epub 2011 Jun 12.
Environmental health assessment covers a broad area: virtually all systematic analysis to support decision making on issues relevant to environment and health. Consequently, various different approaches have been developed and applied for different needs within the broad field. In this paper we explore the plurality of approaches and attempt to reveal the state-of-the-art in environmental health assessment by characterizing and explicating the similarities and differences between them. A diverse, yet concise, set of approaches to environmental health assessment is analyzed in terms of nine attributes: purpose, problem owner, question, answer, process, use, interaction, performance and establishment. The conclusions of the analysis underline the multitude and complexity of issues in environmental health assessment as well as the variety of perspectives taken to address them. In response to the challenges, a tendency towards developing and applying more inclusive, pragmatic and integrative approaches can be identified. The most interesting aspects of environmental health assessment are found among these emerging approaches: (a) increasing engagement between assessment and management as well as stakeholders, (b) strive for framing assessments according to specific practical policy needs, (c) integration of multiple benefits and risks, as well as (d) explicit incorporation of both scientific facts and value statements in assessment. However, such approaches are yet to become established, and many contemporary mainstream environmental health assessment practices can still be characterized as relatively traditional risk assessment.
实际上所有支持与环境和健康相关问题决策的系统分析都属于环境健康评估的范畴。因此，在这个广阔的领域内，已经开发并应用了各种不同的方法来满足不同的需求。在本文中，我们探讨了多种方法，并尝试通过刻画和阐明它们之间的异同，来揭示环境健康评估的最新进展。
本文从九个属性（目的、问题所有者、问题、答案、过程、用途、交互、性能和建立）的角度，对多样化但又简洁的环境健康评估方法进行了分析。分析的结论强调了环境健康评估中问题的多样性和复杂性，以及解决这些问题的各种观点。为了应对这些挑战，可以识别出一种倾向，即开发和应用更具包容性、务实和综合的方法。在这些新兴方法中，可以发现环境健康评估最有趣的方面：（a）在评估和管理以及利益相关者之间增加参与度，（b）根据具体的实际政策需求来构建评估，（c）整合多种利益和风险，以及（d）在评估中明确纳入科学事实和价值陈述。然而，这些方法尚未得到确立，许多当代主流的环境健康评估实践仍然可以被描述为相对传统的风险评估。
