What is the ARA?                       

Tools of the ARA                                     

The Alliance for Risk Assessment (ARA) is a collaborative effort of organizations dedicated to supporting public health protection by improving the process and efficiency of risk assessment, and increasing the capacity for developing risk information to meet growing demand.

Our bodies  interact regularly with chemicals in our food, in our environment, at our work, and in the products we use every day.  The ARA provides information and resources to help understand potential human health risks from chemicals.

The ARA provides a unique venue for governmental, industrial, environmental, and non-profit organizations to collaborate to produce high quality risk assessment science.

Guiding Principles of the Alliance for Risk Assessment

• Promote science-based decision making to protect human health
• Enhance harmonization and consistency in risk assessments through an open, transparent, multi-stakeholder approach
• Maintain access to groups of risk assessment experts that are normally not available within a single organization, agency or state
• Share costs, information, and human resources among multiple stakeholders to increase the capacity and quality of risk values

Benefits of the Alliance Model

Credibility

Projects are evaluated by the ARA Steering Committee, composed of a broad range of experts from various backgrounds and perspectives.  The involvement of diverse interests:

enhances credibility

• ensures careful consideration of all key data and ideas

• provides thoughtful management of potential biases 

• indicates the importance of a project to the broader risk assessment community

Sharing of Resources

The collaborative nature of the ARA centers on the pooling of resources.  ARA participants benefit from access to:

• Technical resources- ARA provides access to experienced scientists and experts not typically found within a single organization.

• Financial Resources- For organizations with limited funding, ARA offers help covering the costs of a project, and will assist in identifying potential co-sponsors.

• Information- ARA participants keep each other informed of their activity, creating opportunities for collaboration.

Exposure

The ARA encourages the free-flow of information across organizations.  Projects that utilize the ARA process will be broadcast within the Risk assessment community via:

• RiskIE- The Risk Information Exchange is a free internet database that tracks in-progress risk and toxicity assessments

• ITER- The International Toxicity Estimates of Risk database lists chronic human health risk values

• ARA Newsletter/Website- ARA maintains an up-to-date website with descriptions of ongoing projects.  Newsletter updates are sent regularly to the risk assessment community