The Red Book, a red herring, and the red tape: A European perspective

The National Research Council's report Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process, which became known as the "Red Book," had an immediate impact in the United States, and it subsequently triggered developments in risk assessment that soon became international in scope. The ambitions expressed in the Red Book soon appeared overly optimistic, but with time, constructive extensions emerged, in which national agencies, the European Commission, the World Health Organization, and others, took charge. Stakeholder organizations also took an active stand in these developments, but attempts to focus on specific details of risk assessment methods also had the indirect effects of muddling and delaying risk assessment efforts. Among the most important recent developments, the European Commission has issued a draft plan to test the 30,000 chemicals that are produced in the greatest quantities and about which almost no toxicity information exists. This plan is fully in accordance with optimistic ambitions expressed 25 years ago in the Red Book, but now the United States government argues against this approach. Although risk assessment is still struggling to find its place in primary prevention of disease and disability, in current perspective, the Red Book remains a milestone in public health.