Review of quantitative assessment of risk reduction options applied in the EFSA outputs on biological hazards, in support of a guidance document of the EFSA Panel on Plant Health
Meta data
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Abstract
The EFSA Opinions of the Panels AHAW, BIOHAZ, CONTAM, GMO and PLH (from the beginning until May 2011) were examined, focusing on whether quantitative methods were used in evaluating the effectiveness of any such risk reduction options. In case quantitative methods were used, further attention was paid to various issues highlighted by the PLH Panel in its ‘Guidance on the evaluation of pest risk assessments and risk management options.’ On the whole and for each examined Panel, EFSA Opinions on Biological Hazards using quantitative methods to evaluate the effectiveness of risk reduction options are a minority of the examined Opinions. When combining the data for all panels, there is a temporal trend towards increased use of quantitative methods to assess the effectiveness of risk reduction options. A diversity of methods was used by the Panels to examine quantitatively the effectiveness of risk reduction options (e.g., scenarios, models, quantitative scoring, survival analysis). Only a minority of the Opinions using quantitative methods to evaluate the effectiveness of risk reduction options provided information on the level of risk reduction, the presence of alternative measures in case a similar level of risk reduction was likely for different options, a demonstration of the added effect of the single options, the technical feasibility, and the level of uncertainty.