Safe or Not Safe: Deciding What Risks to Accept in Our Environment and Food

158 Pages·2011·1.5 MB·English

by  Paul Pechan

Safe or Not Safe
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Paul Pechan Ortwin Renn Allan Watt
● ●
Ingemar Pongratz
●
Safe or Not Safe
Deciding What Risks to Accept
in Our Environment and Food
Paul Pechan Allan Watt
Institute of Communication and Media NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Research Bush Estate
Ludwig Maximilians Penicuik EH26 0QB
University Munich United Kingdom
Oettingenstr 67 [email protected]
80538 Munich
Germany Ingemar Pongratz
[email protected] Karolinska Institutet
Stockholm
Ortwin Renn Sweden
Dialogik [email protected]
Lerchenstr 22
70176 Stuttgart
Germany
[email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4419-7867-7 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-7868-4
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-7868-4
Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011926227
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
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Printed on acid-free paper
Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Introduction
Risk and uncertainty. These terms are very often mentioned in the media. But what
is their real meaning? Are they important for our daily life? This book explains
these terms in the context of our food chain. It provides a number of food-related
examples of how scientists measure, assess, and manage potential risks and how
this helps us to decide what is safe and not safe. The examples have one thing in
common: They deal with problems that are man-made.
The first chapter sets the stage: Risk examples are given from our daily life,
illustrating what we need to know about risks and how to manage them. This
knowledge forms the basis to guide you through the three remaining thematic
chapters, where more specific topics and examples are discussed.
The second chapter looks at biodiversity. Almost two million species have now
been identified and the actual number of species in the world is estimated to be
between 10–30 million. This enormous biodiversity is an essential provider of eco-
system goods and services to our society. However, despite the important role biodi-
versity plays in our lives, all species that together comprise biodiversity face risk.
The third chapter investigates the risks chemical contaminants pose to our health
through the food chain. The issue of food consumption has evolved from a rela-
tively short chain of trading between producer and consumer to a complex chain
where different parties are involved. Today, food consumption includes large-scale
production, time-efficient handling, transport, and packaging of food. Along this
chain, there are many possibilities to introduce unwanted chemicals into the foods
we consume, sometimes with harmful outcomes.
The last chapter looks back at the nearly three decades of developing genetically
modified foods. However, the technology used to create such foods has not been
readily accepted by the public. What are the benefits and risks of this technology?
The chapter not only looks at the science behind the technology but also addresses
issues as consumer choice and rights, politics, product usefulness, and availability
of alternatives.
This book is aimed at educators in formal and informal educational settings as
well as interested general public.
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About the Authors
Paul Pechan is a researcher at the Department of Communication and Media
Research, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich. His background is in molecular
biology, but since 2000 he has been involved in the research and communication of
science to the public and youth. His latest work includes scientific papers on informa-
tion recall, texts for 5 health films and a UNESCO manual on GMO for teachers.
Allan Watt is a research scientist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology,
Edinburgh. He has led several international projects with a focus on conflicts
between human activities and biodiversity.
Ingemar Pongratz is group leader and holds an Assistant Professorship at the
Department for Biosciences and Nutrition at KI. Dr Pongratz’s main research area
is the biology and function of pHLH-PAS proteins, and he leads his own research
group studying the effects of dioxin exposure at the cellular level.
Ortwin Renn serves as full professor and Chair of Environmental Sociology and
Technology Assessment at Stuttgart University (Germany). He directs the
Interdisciplinary Research Unit for Risk Governance and Sustainable Technology
Development (ZIRN) at Stuttgart University and the nonprofit company DIALOGIK,
a research institute for the investigation of communication and participation
processes in environmental policy making.
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Contents
1 Risks ........................................................................................................... 1
1 Why Are We Writing About This Topic? ............................................. 1
2 Risk as a Science Topic and Expected Impact on the Society .............. 2
2.1 What Is Risk? ............................................................................... 2
2.2 Varying Concepts of Risk ............................................................ 4
2.3 Basic Components of Risk ........................................................... 5
2.4 Characteristics of Risks in the Modern World:
New Challenges to Risk Governance ........................................... 7
2.5 The Integration of Perceptions and Social Concerns ................... 10
3 Analysis of the Risk Issues Involved .................................................... 12
3.1 How to Deal with Systemic Risks? .............................................. 12
3.2 The “Traditional” Understanding of Risk Governance ................ 13
3.3 The Need for an Integrated Framework of Risk Governance ...... 18
3.4 Risk Management Styles According to Different
Regulatory Styles of Risk Governance ........................................ 23
4 Stakeholder and Public Involvement ................................................. 23
4.1 Stakeholder Involvement and the Synthesis
of Conflicting Perspectives .......................................................... 23
4.2 Coping with the Plurality of Knowledge and Values ................... 26
4.3 International Challenges When Dealing with
Transboundary Risks.................................................................... 29
5 Premises for Successful Risk Governance ............................................ 31
5.1 Organizational Capacity to Deal with Risks ................................ 31
5.2 Prerequisites of Good Governance .............................................. 32
5.3 Principles of the Governance of Systemic Risks ......................... 33
6 Chapter Summary ................................................................................. 35
Glossary ...................................................................................................... 36
References ................................................................................................... 37
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