Worst Things First : The Debate over Risk-Based National Environmental Priorities

Momentum is growing to improve the haphazard way in which America's environmental priorities are determined.

Influential members of Congress and federal officials, among others, are asking whether regulators actually devote their greatest attention to problems presenting the greatest ecological and health risks.

Priority-setting that is more rational and dispassionate, the argument goes, would provide the way out of the "ready, fire, aim" syndrome that characterizes a crisis-of-the-month approach.

Increasingly, the technique of comparative risk assessment is advanced as the key to more efficient and sensible planning.

Despite its growing popularity, however, serious doubts exist about the adequacy of risk assessment for setting priorities.