Flaws in Risk Assessments

Chemical risk assessment studies conducted with rodents have helped to justify expenditures of more than a trillion dollars over the past 20 years. Large additional outlays are planned, although it has not been shown that such studies have substantially benefited human health. In fact, it has become increasingly clear that the main causes of untimely human death are smoking and diet. For example, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine* indicates that excess weight has a wide range of deleterious effects on health.