The Reality of Precaution

by Wiener, Jonathan B.; Rogers, Michael D.; Hammitt, James K.; Sand, Peter H.

• ISBN13: 9781933115856
• ISBN10: 1933115858
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-30
• Publisher: ROUTLEDGE

Summary

The "Precautionary Principle" has sparked the central controversy over European and U.S. risk regulation. The Reality of Precaution is the most comprehensive study to go beyond precaution as an abstract principle and test its reality in practice. This groundbreaking resource combines detailed case studies of a wide array of risks to health, safety, environment and security; a broad quantitative analysis; and cross-cutting chapters on politics, law, and perceptions. The authors rebut the rhetoric of conflicting European and American approaches to risk, and show that the reality has been the selective application of precaution to particular risks on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as a constructive exchange of policy ideas toward "better regulation." The book offers a new view of precaution, regulatory reform, comparative analysis, and transatlantic relations.

Author Biography

Jonathan B. Wiener is Perkins Professor of Law, Environmental Policy, and Public Policy at Duke University, and a University Fellow at RFF. Michael D. Rogers is an independent consultant on risk, science, and ethics, and a former member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers reporting to the President of the European Commission. James K. Hammitt is Professor of Economics and Decision Sciences at Harvard University, and at the Toulouse School of Economics. Peter H. Sand is Lecturer in International Environmental Law at the University of Munich.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Contributors	p. xiii
Introduction
The Rhetoric of Precaution	p. 3
Case Studies of Relative Precaution Regarding Specific Risks
Genetically Modified Foods and Crops	p. 39
Beef, Hormones, and Mad Cows	p. 65
Tobacco	p. 91
Nuclear Power	p. 121
Automobile Emissions	p. 142
Stratospheric Ozone Depletion and Global Climate Change	p. 159
The Marine Environment	p. 177
Biodiversity Conservation	p. 201
Chemicals	p. 223
Medical Errors, New Drug Approval, and Patient Safety	p. 257
Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction	p. 285
Precaution in Risk Information Systems
Information Disclosure	p. 323
Frameworks for Risk Assessment, Uncertainty, and Precaution	p. 361
A Broader Empirical Test of Relative Precaution
A Quantitative Comparison of Relative Precaution in the United States and Europe, 1970-2004	p. 377
Can We Explain the Observed Pattern of Precaution?
Political Institutions and the Principle of Precaution	p. 411
Legal and Administrative Systems: Implications for Precautionary Regulation	p. 434
Risk Perceptions and Risk Attitudes in the United States and Europe	p. 480
Precautions against What? Perceptions, Heuristics, and Culture	p. 492
Conclusions
The Real Pattern of Precaution	p. 519
Acknowledgments	p. 567
Index	p. 571
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