{{also|worst-case complexity}} {{Primary sources|date=July 2019}} The '''worst-case analysis''' regulation<ref name=cfr1502>40 CFR 1502.22</ref> was promulgated in 1979 by the US Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The regulation is one of many implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969<ref>NEPA 42 USC 4321 et seq (1976)</ref> and it sets out the formal procedure a US government agency must follow when confronted with gaps in relevant information or scientific uncertainty about significant adverse effects on the environment from a major federal action.<ref>{{cite news |title=Northwest Area Noxious Weed Control Program: Environmental Impact Statement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XwIyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA134 |publisher=United States. Bureau of Land Management |date=December 1985}}</ref>
==Synopsis== The regulation requires an agency to make known when it is confronted with gaps in relevant information or scientific uncertainty.<ref name=cfr1502/> The agency then must determine if the missing information is essential to a reasoned choice among the alternatives. When the missing information is material to the decision an agency ordinarily must obtain the information and include it in an environmental impact statement (EIS).<ref name=cfr1502/> If the means for obtaining the missing information are beyond the state of the art or alternatively if the costs of obtaining it are exorbitant the agency must then prepare a '''worst-case analysis'''.<ref name=cfr1502/> In this analysis the agency must weigh the need for the action against the risks and in the face of uncertainty. The agency also is to indicate the probability or improbability of the worst case's occurrence.<ref>{{cite news |title=Northwest Area Noxious Weed Control Program: Environmental Impact Statement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XwIyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA134 |publisher=United States. Bureau of Land Management |date=December 1985}}</ref>
==References== {{USGovernment}} {{reflist}}
Category:Toxicology Category:Food law Category:Environmental policy in the United States Category:United States Environmental Protection Agency Category:Food safety Category:Food and Drug Administration