Foreword
One of the most persistent trends
in American society has been an insistence on citizens'
rights to be informed and to participate in all areas
that affect their quality of life and personal health and
welfare. This is particularly true in matters relating to
environmental health. A relatively new dimension to the
public's understanding of the potential threat of
chemical and physical agents in the environment has been
the recognition that the effects on health can be
insidious, developing only after decades of exposure. The
complexities involved in conveying health risk
information on such effects has made health risk
communication difficult.
For these reasons, the Public Health Service's
Environmental Health Policy Committee (EHPC) created the
Subcommittee on Risk Communication and Education. As its
first assignment, the Subcommittee undertook an analysis
of risk communication policies and procedures across
Public Health Service (PHS) agencies, with the goal of
developing recommendations on improving health risk
communication.
The purpose of this report is to help public health
professionals understand the basic principles that will
assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities to
provide to—and receive from—the general public
needed environmental health information about
environmental exposures and disease. The report suggests
fundamental principles drawn from a series of case
studies from PHS agencies about how best to plan and
carry out risk communication activities.
This report is intended to be a guide—in a sense, a
suggested framework of principles—that can be used not
only in the mechanics of producing a single risk
communication activity but also in organizing and
operating an agency or institutional communication
program. The recommendations contained in this report
have been reviewed by PHS agencies, and their actions to
implement the recommendations are found in Appendix 3.
The Subcommittee's efforts were greatly aided by the many
individuals who contributed their expertise by providing
agency examples and cogent analysis during the review
process. Our report would not have been possible without
the dedicated efforts of Dr. Timothy Tinker of the Agency
for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), who
provided the staff support for this activity.
Subcommittee
on Risk Communication and Education
PHS Environmental Health Policy Committee
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