The London Principles

During the last four years, one of the scientific/risk policy areas on which Federal Focus has concentrated has been development of uniform principles for the evaluation and use of epidemiologic data in risk assessments. Such activities have been pursued in partnership with the academic, private research, and consulting communities.

The need for uniform epidemiology principles was advocated by a 19-member expert panel convened by Federal Focus in 1994. (The papers from that conference were compiled and edited by Professor John Graham and published by Elsevier Science B.V. in The Role of Epidemiology in Regulatory Risk Assessment, ISBN 0-444-82201-1.)

In 1995, a second 18-member expert panel met in London, England, and drafted a set of such principles -- often referred to simply as the "London Principles." Federal Focus staff prepared a conference report incorporating the Principles, and also separate recommendations for risk assessment guidelines to implement the intent of the Principles (Principles for Evaluating Epidemiologic Data in Regulatory Risk Assessment, ISBN 0-9654148-0-9, and "Recommendations for Implementing the 'London Principles' and for Risk Assessment Guidance", Federal Focus 1996).

In the near future, Federal Focus plans to hold roundtables with personnel from the federal government, academics and public interest groups, and industry, to obtain further comment on the Principles, and it is considering sponsorship of some "test runs" of the Principles by applying them to the epidemiologic databases for several chemical agents or exposure situations.