Regulatory science

Regulatory science is the scientific and technical foundations upon which regulations are based in various industries – particularly those involving health or safety. Regulatory bodies employing such principles in the US include for example the FDA for food and medical products, the EPA for the environment, and OSHA for work safety. Regulatory science is the scientific and technical foundations upon which regulations are based in various industries – particularly those involving health or safety. Regulatory bodies employing such principles in the US include for example the FDA for food and medical products, the EPA for the environment, and OSHA for work safety. 'Regulatory science' is contrasted with regulatory affairs and regulatory law, which refer to the administrative or legal aspects of regulation, in that the former is focused on the regulations' scientific underpinnings and concerns – rather than the regulations' promulgation, implementation, compliance, or enforcement. Probably the first investigator who recognized the nature of regulatory science was Alvin Weinberg who described the scientific process used to evaluate effects of ionizing radiation as trans science. The origin of the term regulatory science is unknown. It was probably coined sometimes in the late 1970s in an undated memorandum prepared by A. Alan Moghissi who was describing scientific issues that the newly formed US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was facing. During that period the EPA was forced to meet legally mandated deadlines to make decisions that would require reliance upon science that was not meeting conventional scientific requirements. At that time the prevailing view was that there was no need to establish a new scientific discipline because “science is science” regardless of how its application. In the spring of 1985 Moghissi established the Institute for Regulatory Science in the Commonwealth of Virginia as a non-profit organization with the objective to perform scientific studies “at the interface between science and the regulatory system” Moghissi et al. have provided an extensive description of history of regulatory science including various perception of regulatory science leading to the acceptance of regulatory science by the FDA Moghissi et al. have described the history of regulatory science and provide two definitions. The first definition is the generalized definition provided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “Regulatory science is a scientific discipline consisting of the development and application of scientific methods, tools, approaches, and other relevant processes derived from various scientific disciplines used to support regulatory and other policy objectives”. An abbreviated definition consists of “regulatory science consists of the application of science to support policy notably regulatory objectives” The objectives, stated by the FDA in 2010 will provide a basis to: There have been several attempts to define regulatory science. In many cases there are claims that there is a difference between regulatory science and “normal science”, “academic science”, “research science”. or compliance with regulations The primary problem is the lack of appreciation that many branches of science are evolving and much of the evolving science includes inherent uncertainties. Regulatory science is included in every regulation that includes science. The regulatory science community consists of three groups of regulatory scientists: