Luken R A
Environ Health Perspect. 1985 Oct;62:373-9. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8562373.
Almost since its inception, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been using analytical techniques related to the concept of balancing benefits and costs. As a result of the Reagan Administration's Executive Order 12291, benefit-cost analysis is playing an increasingly important role in the EPA regulatory process. Benefit-cost analysis has assisted in organizing information and improving cost estimates. It has influenced the choice of regulatory criteria and aided in the developing degrees of stringency for environmental regulations. The usage of benefit-cost analysis is limited by interpretations of portions of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act that restrict consideration of costs or establish technology standards. Benefit analysis is only as reliable as the underlying scientific data in the health effects area. Work by epidemiologists on the relationships between pollutant exposures and adverse health effects will play a vital role in EPA's ability to value in dollars the health improvements attributable to pollution control. EPA's Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation is currently conducting combined economic and epidemiology research to develop methods and estimates of the health benefits of pollution control.
几乎自成立以来，美国环境保护局（EPA）就一直在使用与权衡收益和成本概念相关的分析技术。由于里根政府的第12291号行政命令，收益成本分析在EPA的监管过程中发挥着越来越重要的作用。收益成本分析有助于整理信息并改进成本估算。它影响了监管标准的选择，并有助于确定环境法规的严格程度。收益成本分析的使用受到《清洁空气法》和《清洁水法》部分条款解释的限制，这些条款限制了对成本的考虑或制定了技术标准。收益分析的可靠性仅取决于健康影响领域的基础科学数据。流行病学家关于污染物暴露与不良健康影响之间关系的研究，将在EPA以美元价值衡量污染控制带来的健康改善能力方面发挥至关重要的作用。EPA的政策、规划与评估办公室目前正在进行经济与流行病学的联合研究，以开发污染控制健康收益的方法和估算。
