An interpretation and evaluation of the US Environmental Protection Agency ecological risk assessment guidelines

Abstract

An interpretation of the US EPA ERA process The US EPA defines ERA as “the process that evaluates the likelihood that adverse effects may occur or are occurring as a result of exposure to one or more stressors” (US EPA, 1998). The process consists of a number of formal phases (Fig. 1). The interpretation of the US EPA process in this paper distin-An interpretation and evaluation of the US Environmental Protection Agency ecological risk assessment guidelines K Murray1 and M Claassen2* 1 Insight Modelling Services, PO Box 38953, Garsfontein East 0060, South Africa 2 Environmentek, CSIR, PO Box 395, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa Abstract In order to facilitate a common understanding, on-going debate and increasing application of ecological risk assessment (ERA) in South Africa, the ERA process of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been summarised and evaluated for South African conditions. Many of the individual steps in the process have been interpreted and reworded in order to improve communication of the concepts.

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