The Role of Quantitative Risk Assessment in Environmental Regulations LaveLester B. 1985 <p>In one view of the world, environmental hazards are akin to smoking guns-there is a dead or wounded victim, an obvious cause, and an obvious solution. In this 1960s view, solving environmental problems is only a matter of will.</p> <p>Congress embodied this simple view in the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and other environmental legislation. When this caricature was obviously inapplicable, as with pesticides, Congress mandated a balancing of risk and benefit, but still saw the problem as a straightforward, somewhat simple one. Unfortunately, environmental legislation, even including the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), embodies notions that are dysfunctional in attempting to manage complicated environmental problems.</p>