Name(s):
Inappropriate legal definition of health risks
Health standards of convenience
Nature
Increasingly safety limits, especially for new products where detailed knowledge of their long-term effects is unavailable, are set as the result of a compromise between a reasonable estimate of the probable health risks and the commercial or political interests of those concerned with their manufacture. The compromise may be deliberately based on inadequate testing, or tests known to be obsolete or insensitive. Excellent tests may however be used which only test for short-term effects. Such results are then used as the basis for the legal definition of acceptable levels of toxicity. The legal definition is then used to provide general assurance in the absence of ability to communicate hard facts.