TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine AU - National Research Council A2 - Baruch Fischhoff A2 - Elena O. Nightingale A2 - Joah G. Iannotta TI - Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Concepts and Measurement SN - DO - 10.17226/10209 PY - 2001 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10209/adolescent-risk-and-vulnerability-concepts-and-measurement PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Health and Medicine AB - Adolescents obviously do not always act in ways that serve their own best interests, even as defined by them. Sometimes their perception of their own risks, even of survival to adulthood, is larger than the reality; in other cases, they underestimate the risks of particular actions or behaviors. It is possible, indeed likely, that some adolescents engage in risky behaviors because of a perception of invulnerability—the current conventional wisdom of adults' views of adolescent behavior. Others, however, take risks because they feel vulnerable to a point approaching hopelessness. In either case, these perceptions can prompt adolescents to make poor decisions that can put them at risk and leave them vulnerable to physical or psychological harm that may have a negative impact on their long-term health and viability. A small planning group was formed to develop a workshop on reconceptualizing adolescent risk and vulnerability. With funding from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Workshop on Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Setting Priorities took place on March 13, 2001, in Washington, DC. The workshop's goal was to put into perspective the total burden of vulnerability that adolescents face, taking advantage of the growing societal concern for adolescents, the need to set priorities for meeting adolescents' needs, and the opportunity to apply decision-making perspectives to this critical area. This report summarizes the workshop. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Improving the Regulation and Management of Low-Activity Radioactive Wastes SN - DO - 10.17226/11595 PY - 2006 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11595/improving-the-regulation-and-management-of-low-activity-radioactive-wastes PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - The largest volumes of radioactive wastes in the United States contain only small amounts of radioactive material. These low-activity wastes (LAW) come from hospitals, utilities, research institutions, and defense installations where nuclear material is used. Millions of cubic feet of LAW also arise every year from non-nuclear enterprises such as mining and water treatment. While LAW present much less of a radiation hazard than spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive wastes, they can cause health risks if controlled improperly. Improving the Regulation and Management of Low-Activity Radioactive Wastes asserts that LAW should be regulated and managed according to the degree of risk they pose for treatment, storage, and disposal. Current regulations are based primarily on the type of industry that produced the waste--the waste's origin--rather than its risk. In this report, a risk-informed approach for regulating and managing all types of LAW in the United States is proposed. Implemented in a gradual or stepwise fashion, this approach combines scientific risk assessment with public values and perceptions. It focuses on the hazardous properties of the waste in question and how they compare with other waste materials. The approach is based on established principles for risk-informed decision making, current risk-informed initiatives by waste regulators in the United States and abroad, solutions available under current regulatory authorities, and remedies through new legislation when necessary. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council AU - Institute of Medicine A2 - Richard J. Bonnie A2 - Mary Ellen O'Connell TI - Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility SN - DO - 10.17226/10729 PY - 2004 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10729/reducing-underage-drinking-a-collective-responsibility PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks – and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Waste Incineration and Public Health SN - DO - 10.17226/5803 PY - 2000 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/5803/waste-incineration-and-public-health PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Health and Medicine AB - Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical waste—but there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion. Waste Incineration and Public Health informs the emerging debate with the most up-to-date information available on incineration, pollution, and human health—along with expert conclusions and recommendations for further research and improvement of such areas as risk communication. The committee provides details on: Processes involved in incineration and how contaminants are released. Environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure. Tools and approaches for assessing possible human health effects. Scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book also examines some of the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect the communities where incineration takes place and addresses the problem of uncertainty and variation in predicting the health effects of incineration processes. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council A2 - Daniel S. Nagin A2 - John V. Pepper TI - Deterrence and the Death Penalty SN - DO - 10.17226/13363 PY - 2012 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13363/deterrence-and-the-death-penalty PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - Many studies during the past few decades have sought to determine whether the death penalty has any deterrent effect on homicide rates. Researchers have reached widely varying, even contradictory, conclusions. Some studies have concluded that the threat of capital punishment deters murders, saving large numbers of lives; other studies have concluded that executions actually increase homicides; still others, that executions have no effect on murder rates. Commentary among researchers, advocates, and policymakers on the scientific validity of the findings has sometimes been acrimonious. Against this backdrop, the National Research Council report Deterrence and the Death Penalty assesses whether the available evidence provides a scientific basis for answering questions of if and how the death penalty affects homicide rates. This new report from the Committee on Law and Justice concludes that research to date on the effect of capital punishment on homicide rates is not useful in determining whether the death penalty increases, decreases, or has no effect on these rates. The key question is whether capital punishment is less or more effective as a deterrent than alternative punishments, such as a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Yet none of the research that has been done accounted for the possible effect of noncapital punishments on homicide rates. The report recommends new avenues of research that may provide broader insight into any deterrent effects from both capital and noncapital punishments. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Improving Risk Communication: Working Papers SN - DO - 10.17226/1709 PY - 1989 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1709/improving-risk-communication-working-papers PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Supporting Individual Risk Assessment during COVID-19 DO - 10.17226/26629 PY - 2022 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26629/supporting-individual-risk-assessment-during-covid-19 PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - Many individual states and localities have loosened or eliminated mitigation measures as the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved. Individuals who wish to mitigate their risk of contracting COVID-19 must decide on effective strategies in environments that may have returned to pre-pandemic norms. Individuals must assess their level of risk and risk tolerance amid different mitigation measures, regulations, and metrics across states and localities. The public is also exposed to misinformation and disinformation through social and mainstream media - all occurring within a politically polarized environment. This rapid expert consultation draws on existing social, behavioral, and decision science research to identify actionable guidance for state, local, and tribal decision makers seeking to help members of the public make their own and others' risk assessments related to COVID-19. This rapid expert consultation was produced through the Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN), an activity of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. SEAN links researchers in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences with decision makers to respond to policy questions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. This project is affiliated with the National Academies' Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Risk and Decision Making: Perspectives and Research SN - DO - 10.17226/775 PY - 1982 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/775/risk-and-decision-making-perspectives-and-research PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine ER - TY - BOOK AU - Institute of Medicine TI - Scientific Standards for Studies on Modified Risk Tobacco Products SN - DO - 10.17226/13294 PY - 2012 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13294/scientific-standards-for-studies-on-modified-risk-tobacco-products PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - Smoking-related diseases kill more Americans than alcohol, illegal drugs, murder and suicide combined. The passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gave the FDA authority to regulate "modified risk tobacco products" (MRTPs), tobacco products that are either designed or advertised to reduce harm or the risk of tobacco-related disease. MRTPs must submit to the FDA scientific evidence to demonstrate the product has the potential to reduce tobacco related harms as compared to conventional tobacco products. The IOM identifies minimum standards for scientific studies that an applicant would need to complete to obtain an order to market the product from the FDA. ER - TY - BOOK TI - Rethinking High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal: A Position Statement of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management DO - 10.17226/10293 PY - 1990 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10293/rethinking-high-level-radioactive-waste-disposal-a-position-statement-of PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Julie Anne Schuck TI - Social and Behavioral Sciences for National Security: Proceedings of a Summit SN - DO - 10.17226/24710 PY - 2017 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24710/social-and-behavioral-sciences-for-national-security-proceedings-of-a PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - In the coming years, complex domestic and international environments and challenges to national security will continue. Intelligence analysts and the intelligence community will need access to the appropriate tools and developing knowledge about threats to national security in order to provide the best information to policy makers. Research and knowledge from the social and behavioral sciences (SBS) can help inform the work of intelligence analysis; however, in the past, bringing important findings from research to bear on the day-to-day work of intelligence analysis has been difficult. In order to understand how knowledge from science can be directed and applied to help the intelligence community fulfill its critical responsibilities, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will undertake a 2-year survey of the social and behavioral sciences. To launch this discussion, a summit designed to highlight cutting-edge research and identify future directions for research in a few areas of the social and behavioral sciences was held in October 2016. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the summit. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Steven M. Teutsch A2 - Amy B. Geller A2 - Aimee M. Mead TI - Premium Cigars: Patterns of Use, Marketing, and Health Effects SN - DO - 10.17226/26421 PY - 2022 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26421/premium-cigars-patterns-of-use-marketing-and-health-effects PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - The early to mid-1990s saw a large surge in U.S. cigar consumption, including premium cigars. Based on recent import data, premium cigar use may be increasing, though they currently make up a small percent of the total U.S. cigar market. Premium cigars have also been the subject of legal and regulatory efforts for the past decade. In 1998, the National Cancer Institute undertook a comprehensive review of available knowledge about cigars - the only one to date. The resulting research recommendations have largely not been addressed, and many of the identified information gaps persist. Furthermore, there is no single, consistent definition of premium cigars, making research challenging. In response, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee of experts to address this issue. The resulting report, Premium Cigars: Patterns of Use, Marketing, and Health Effects, includes 13 findings, 24 conclusions, and nine priority research recommendations and assesses the state of evidence on premium cigar characteristics, current patterns of use, marketing and perceptions of the product, and short- long-term health effects. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Transportation Research Board AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Visual Risk Technologies, Inc. TI - Current Hazardous Materials Transportation Research and Future Needs DO - 10.17226/22679 PY - 2012 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/22679/current-hazardous-materials-transportation-research-and-future-needs PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Transportation and Infrastructure AB - TRB’s Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program (HMCRP) Web-Only Document 1: Current Hazardous Materials Transportation Research and Future Needs explores existing research, planned research, and research gaps; and includes list of potential research projects in the area of hazardous materials transportation research. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council AU - Institute of Medicine TI - Letter Report on the Development of a Model for Ranking FDA Product Categories on the Basis of Health Risks DO - 10.17226/12604 PY - 2009 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12604/letter-report-on-the-development-of-a-model-for-ranking-fda-product-categories-on-the-basis-of-health-risks PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Interim Report on Methodological Improvements to the Department of Homeland Security's Biological Agent Risk Analysis DO - 10.17226/11836 PY - 2007 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11836/interim-report-on-methodological-improvements-to-the-department-of-homeland-securitys-biological-agent-risk-analysis PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues AB - In 2004, the President issued a homeland security directive focusing on defense against biological weapons. This directive, along with the National Strategy for Homeland Security published in 2002, mandated assessments of the biological weapons threat to the nation and assigned responsibility for those assessments to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). To assist in this project, DHS asked the NRC to carry out a study of the methodology used by the agency to prepare its first bioterrorism risk assessment. This interim report provides a preliminary examination of that methodology along with recommendations for near-term guidance and direction for the further development of its risk analysis models. A final report will address longer-term issues in the development of risk assessment capabilities for DHS. ER - TY - BOOK TI - Countering Terrorism: Lessons Learned from Natural and Technological Disasters DO - 10.17226/10414 PY - 2002 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10414/countering-terrorism-lessons-learned-from-natural-and-technological-disasters PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Conflict and Security Issues AB - Countering Terrorism is the summary of The Natural Disasters Roundtable Forum on Countering Terrorism, held at The National Academies in Washington, D. C. on February 28 – March 1, 2002.This event promoted a two-way process of knowledge exchange. In one direction, representatives of the hazard research community discussed lessons from past disasters that may help inform efforts to respond to and recover from acts of terrorism. In the other direction, key personnel who responded to the September 11 events, and to the anthrax bioterrorism that followed, helped to define new research needs applicable to terrorism. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Improving Risk Communication SN - DO - 10.17226/1189 PY - 1989 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1189/improving-risk-communication PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Computers and Information Technology AB - Technological risk and the process of explaining risks to the public have become major public issues. The mention of Bhopal or Love Canal can provoke emotional arguments—not only about the hazards themselves but also about how they were explained to the public. As new laws, the threat of AIDS, and other factors make risk communication more crucial, officials in government and industry are seeking guidelines on how to communicate effectively and responsibly. This volume offers an approach to better quality in risk communication. The combined insight of experts from government, business, and universities, Improving Risk Communication draws on the most current academic and practical information and analysis. Issues addressed include why risk communication has become more difficult in recent decades, what the major problems are, and how common misconceptions often hamper communication campaigns. Aimed especially at top decisionmakers in government and industry, the book emphasizes that solving the problems of risk communication is as much about improving procedures as improving the content of risk messages. Specific recommendations for change include a Risk Message Checklist and a call for developing a consumer's guide to risk. Appendixes provide additional details. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - A Review of the Draft 2013 National Climate Assessment SN - DO - 10.17226/18322 PY - 2013 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18322/a-review-of-the-draft-2013-national-climate-assessment PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - As mandated by the Global Change Research Act (GCRA), the U.S. Global Change Research Program is currently producing a "National Climate Assessment" (NCA). The NCA is a report to inform the President, the Congress, and the American people about the current state of scientific knowledge regarding climate change effects on U.S. regions and key sectors, now and in the coming decades. This document contains an evaluation of the draft NCA report, presented through consensus responses to the Panel's Task Statement questions, and through a large collection of individual Panel member comments and suggestions for specific chapters, statements, figures, etc. While focusing primarily on practical suggestions for immediately improving the current draft, the Panel also raises some broader considerations about fundamental approaches used in certain parts of the NCA report, and about the scope of USGCRP research that underlies the NCA findings. Some suggestions can be viewed as longer-term advice for future versions of NCA work. This NCA has been a significantly more ambitious effort than previous assessments, in terms of the scope of topics addressed and the breadth of public engagement processes involved. Some of the important new areas include the use of "traceable accounts," the articulation of needs for future research and a vision for an ongoing assessment process, the outreach efforts to help various stakeholders define their climate-related information needs, and the initial (though incomplete) effort to assess the current state of climate change response activities around the nation. Given the current state of the science and the scope of resources available, we believe the NCA did a reasonable job of fulfilling its charge overall. Although more needs to be done to fully meet the nation's needs for information and guidance, such needs cannot be met without an expanded research effort on the part of the USGCRP and future assessments. The Panel suggests that the NCA report would be improved by addressing the numerous specific problems and concerns and the more cross-cutting issues raised in the consensus answers to the Task Statement questions—which include, for instance, the need to: 1. provide a clear overarching framework for the report that helps readers understand climate change as part of a complex system with interacting physical, biological, and human social/economic dimensions, and offers practical guidance on using iterative risk management strategies to make decisions in the face of large uncertainties; 2. clearly acknowledge how climate change affects and is affected by other types of major global environmental changes and other societal developments; 3. offer an explicit discussion about the uncertainties associated with the regional model projections presented in the NCA draft; 4. take full advantage of the e-book format planned for this document through strategic use of hyperlinks among different parts of the report and other innovative approaches that help guide the experience of the NCA's diverse audiences. As the nation continues to engage with the threats, opportunities, and surprises of climate change in its many manifestations, the 2013 NCA should prove to be a valuable resource, as a summary of the state of knowledge about climate change and its implications for the American people. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Research Council TI - Communicating Toxicogenomics Information to Nonexperts: A Workshop Summary SN - DO - 10.17226/11179 PY - 2005 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11179/communicating-toxicogenomics-information-to-nonexperts-a-workshop-summary PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Biology and Life Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - Toxicogenomics, the study of how genomes respond to exposure to toxicants, may ultimately hold the promise of detecting changes in the expression of a person's genes if he or she is exposed to these toxicants. As the technology rapidly develops, it is critical that scientists and the public communicate about the promises and limitations of this new field. Communicating technical information to the public about a developing science can be challenging, particularly when the applications of that science are not yet well understood. Communicating Toxicogenomics Information to Nonexperts is the summary of a workshop designed to consider strategies for communicating toxicogenomic information to the public and other non- expert audiences, specifically addressing the communication of some key social, ethical, and legal issues related to toxicogenomics and addressing how information related to the social implications of toxicogenomics might be perceived by nonexperts. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Holly G. Rhodes TI - Changing Sociocultural Dynamics and Implications for National Security: Proceedings of a Workshop SN - DO - 10.17226/25056 PY - 2018 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25056/changing-sociocultural-dynamics-and-implications-for-national-security-proceedings-of PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - Beginning in October 2017, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine organized a set of workshops designed to gather information for the Decadal Survey of Social and Behavioral Sciences for Applications to National Security. The first workshop focused on changing sociocultural dynamics and implications for national security, and this publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from this workshop. ER -