Environmental Toxic Torts: The Need for Regulatory Change

How should we regulate and to what extend should we regulate? Who should decide and how? It is difficult or in most cases impossible for courts using common law tort theories to distinguish between injuries and increased risk from environmental or non-environmental factors. The present tort system may be efficient and may promote the correct result in the vast majority of cases, but not in toxic torts. Therefore, this paper presents the government’s involvement, standards, regulatory approaches, and significant recommended modifications to the present toxic tort system.