Alliance for Risk Assessment

A Collaborative Approach for

Solving Public Health

Risk Assessment Issues

Description

The Alliance for Risk Assessment (ARA) is a collaboration of organizations that fosters the development of technical chemical risk assessment products and services, through a collaborative effort of specialists and organizations dedicated to protecting public health by improving the process and efficiency of risk assessment, and to increasing the capacity for developing risk values to meet growing demand. The ARA will coordinate with Federal and Sate Agencies whenever possible, to ensure the best use of available resources, and to avoid duplication of effort.

ARA Overview PowerPoint

ARA Brochure

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

Mission 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. Given a limited supply of time, resources, and expertise, public health protection is an effort that benefits from cooperation, organization, and prioritization. To this end, the ARA provides a framework for the advancement of risk assessment by: - implementing a multi-stakeholder decision-making process to deliver the best use of science with openness and transparency - enabling groups with limited resources access to toxicological and risk assessment expertise - facilitating the harmonization of risk assessment procedures across organizational lines - increasing the capacity for developing risk information by pooling technical and financial resources to ensure their most effective applications, by minimizing duplication of effort - promoting the use of risk assessment by fostering the exchange and dissemination of information. The goal of ARA is to develop risk assessments where there is a need -- for example where up-to-date assessments by major governmental agencies on the topic of interest do not exist or are not near finalization. This criterion is critical in selection of suitable projects.

Support for the ARA Our initial canvassing efforts have indicated significant support for the Alliance for Risk Assessment (ARA). We have discussed the goals and operations of the Alliance with over 150 individuals representing academic, environmental, industry, local, state, provincial, tribal, and national interests. Letters of support, project requests, and seed funding we have received clearly demonstrate an interested stakeholder population. Examples of feedback
ARA recent and upcoming presentations - Upcoming Presentation at the Society for Risk Analysis 2008, Presentation for SRA 2008 as part of the symposium entitled “A Palette of Scientific Data: Online Risk Assessment Tools – Part 1" Collaboration and Communication of Global Risk Assessment Information. - General informational presentation on ITER and RiskIE databases Summer 2008 presentation - ITER and RiskIE Poster at the 2^nd World Congress on Risk conference in Guadalajara, Mexico. June 8-11, 2008 poster presentation - Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference. Cincinnati, OH. April 14- 17, 2008 poster - Presentation at Society of Toxicology's "Risk Assessment Data Repository: An Inter-Agency Collaboration" March 18, 2008 presentation - RiskIE Poster at the annual Society for Risk Analysis conference in San Antonio. December 9-12, 2007 abstract poster - Presentation on Role of ARA in Global Information Sharing” at the Multi-State Working Group on Environmental Performance Annual Workshop held in Madison, WI June 20, 2007. presentation - Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference. Cincinnati, OH. April 22- 25, 2007 poster presentation - Crop Life America. March 28, 2007. presentation - Regional Meeting of the MultiState Working Group. Nashville, TN. February 5-6, 2007 presentation - Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting. Baltimore, MD. December 3-6, 2006 - Crop Life America. November 16, 2006. presentation - Midwest States Risk Symposium. Indianapolis, IN. August 22, 2006