Water ingestion and inhalation rate is an essential factor for determining the daily dose of environmental pollutants and establishing health criteria or environmental quality standards. In Japan, an daily water ingestion rate of 2 L/day and inhalation rate of 15 m³/day is commonly used to estimate the daily dose of pollutants through water ingestion and air inhalation. However, the scientific basis and representativeness of these values for Japanese has not been fully discussed. In this article, existing and most current scientific knowledge of human water ingestion and inhalation rate are introduced and discussed to better understand the current default values for Japanese in health risk assessment.

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The Society for Risk Analysis Japan held the 23rd annual symposium entitled “ Safety control based on risk assessment: Potential of SRA-Japan ” at Sanjo Conference Hall, The University of Tokyo on 18th June 2010. Three panelists talked on how we could promote safety control based on risk assessment in the area of food safety, chemical risk and management system. The review articles in this volume were written by the panelists based on their talk in the symposium.

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Risk analysis framework introduced into food safety. Codex Alimentarius Commission recommended this framework into food safety to set the international standards. Risk analysis consists of three elements, risk management, risk assessment and risk communication. Since 2003, Japanese food safety policy introduced this framework. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and Ministry of Agriculture, Forest, and Fisheries are risk management bodies. Food safety commission in the Cabinet Office is the risk assessment body. Risk analysis in food safety is necessary and important in the world food trade.

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Although the term "Risk Assessment" has been getting popular in the regulatory context and for the public, there seem to be many cases where the decision makings in the society do not place reliance on risk assessment. In this article, three points that would enhance the presence of risk assessment in the society's decision making were discussed; quantitative evaluation of risk, appropriate address of uncertainty in the risk assessment, and initial risk estimation of emerging risks. Research and developments of risk assessment methodology from such viewpoints are required.

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Risk analysts have advocated that we should shift to risk-based risk management on the basis of risk assessment. However, it has not been well accepted in Japanese society. There seems to be three reasons blocking the social acceptance of risk-based risk management. Firstly, logical thinking, that is fundamental in risk-based risk management, has root difficulty. Secondly, people who can take part in risk communication, that supports risk management, are the few. And thirdly, people could choose other options than risk-based risk management. This paper discusses there reasons and proposes some actions to get over them.

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A method of managing the risk of cadmium (Cd) intake through rice consumption was discussed. Risk was characterized by comparing the risk-based Cd reference concentration and the lifetime average oral exposure concentration of Cd (AM_E). AM_E was the arithmetic mean of a certain area (six hectares) of a paddy field for several decades. The annual variation of Cd concentration in rice is supposed to be log-normally distributed. Farmer's wives were suspected to be a high-risk subpopulation, and AM_E for that subpopulation was calculated. Rice that had a Cd concentration exceeding the maximum limit was eliminated because the subpopulation did not eat this rice. Thus, in case that several limits are used, AM_Es can be re-calculated for rice whose Cd concentration is under the limit. Each paddy field was classified as “ <AM_E by no elimination of rice exceeding the maximum limit (no countermeasures needed; region 1)”, and “ <AM_E by elimination of exceeding the maximum limit (region 2)”. This method enables us to choose cost-effective countermeasures for each paddy field.

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In order to survey necessary elements for smooth risk communication on contaminated site in residential area, a group interviewed was conducted for three groups of residents. The site was contaminated with dioxins and owned by City of Kita in Tokyo and Urban Renaissance Agency (UR), and the residents want to live continuously at the site. The content of the interview is (1) provision of information to the resident by the government, (2) correspondence of the government to requests of residents, and (3) selection of countermeasures by residents. When the contamination was found, the information of the government could not reach to the residents. Therefore, the residents could not trust in the government. However, the government has continually tried to respond the request from the residents. After this, communication has done well, and the residents could accept a risk managing method that covers the contaminated soil.

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A questionnaire survey on the internet was conducted to investigate the effect of information with regard to public perception of nanotechnology-applied consumer products. The products were categorized into 4 groups; cosmetics, food and drinks, medicine, and electric appliances. The respondents were asked to identify themselves as either having a high knowledge of nanotechnology (Group A) or as having a low knowledge of it (Group B). The findings of our study were that, when additional information about nanotechnology was provided with the respondents, the level of benefit perception of nanotechnology remained unchanged among Group A, while it rose among Group B. On the contrary, the level of risk perception remained unchanged among Group B, while it rose among Group A. Consequently, the statistically-significant difference among Group A and Group B disappeared in both levels of benefit perception and risk perception. In other words, the level of risk perception of the respondents in Group B remained the same even when additional information was provided with them, while the level of risk perception of the respondents in Group A was elevated to reach the level of Group B.

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Recently various studies on risk perception have been conducted to discuss how to contribute to effective risk communication. However, analysis of attitudes toward risks and their structure is also important in risk communication. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for analyzing structure of attitudes toward food-related risks, including causal relationships among attitudes toward risks, perceived risks and other factors that influence attitudes. This paper discusses the theoretical studies on attitude, and it examines a series of studies on risk perception and attitudes toward risks. Then it produces a structural model of attitudes toward food-related risks.

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