In the Chamber of Risks: Understanding Risk Controversies - Hardcover

Leiss, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773522387 ISBN 13: 9780773522381

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001

Synopsis

The essential problem is the failure to recognize that controversies over risks are "normal events" in modern society and as such will be with us for the foreseeable future. Three key propositions define these events: risk management decisions are inherently disputable; public perceptions of risk are legitimate and should be treated as such; the public needs to be intensively involved in the processes of risk evaluation and management. Leiss and his collaborators chronicle these organizational risks in a set of detailed case studies on genetically modified foods, cellular telephones, the notorious fuel additive MMT, pulp mill effluent, nuclear power, toxic substances legislation, tobacco, and the new type of "moral risks" associated with genetics technologies such as cloning. Contributors include Debora L. Van Nijnatten (Sir Wilfred Laurier University), Michael D. Mehta (University of Saskatchewan), Stephen Hill (University of Calgary), Éric Darier (Greenpeace), Greg Paoli (Decisionalysis Risk Consultants, Inc.), and Peter V. Hodson (Queen's University).

About this title

About the Author

William Leiss is professor emeritus in the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University and author of several books on climate issues, most recently Canada and Climate Change.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773522387
• ISBN 13: 9780773522381
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 424