Effective Risk Communication:: The Role and Responsibility of Government and Nongovernment Organizations (Contemporary Issues in Risk Analysis)

Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Principles and Guidelines for Improving Risk Communication....Pages 3-16 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 The Federal Role in Risk Communication and Public Education....Pages 19-25 Communicating with the Public on Health Risks....Pages 27-30 The Role of Risk Communication in Environmental Gridlock....Pages 31-36 Risk Communication: Moving from Theory to Law to Practice....Pages 37-43 Hazard versus Outrage in the Public Perception of Risk....Pages 45-49 Front Matter....Pages 51-51 The Government as Lighthouse....Pages 53-61 Qualitative Risk Assessment....Pages 63-66 De Minimis Risk from Chemicals in Food ....Pages 67-71 Interactions between State and Federal Programs....Pages 73-75 Interactions between Community/Local Government and Federal Programs....Pages 77-81 A White House Perspective on Risk Communication....Pages 83-87 Front Matter....Pages 89-89 The Newark Dioxin Case....Pages 91-94 A Landfill Case in California....Pages 95-99 Phosphorus Release in Miamisburg, Ohio....Pages 101-103 Individual Notification of Workers Exposed to 2-Naphthylamine....Pages 105-108 Front Matter....Pages 109-109 Helping the Public Make Health Risk Decisions....Pages 111-116 Scientific Uncertainties and How They Affect Risk Communication....Pages 117-126 Translation of Risk Information for the Public: Message Development....Pages 127-135 Reaching Target Audiences with Risk Information....Pages 137-142 Front Matter....Pages 109-109 Evaluating Risk Communication....Pages 143-158 Back Matter....Pages 159-370 One of the greatest challenges facing those concerned with health and environmental risks is how to carry on a useful public dialogue on these subjects. In a democracy, it is the public that ultimately makes the key decisions on how these risks will be controlled. The stakes are too high for us not to do our very best. The importance of this subject is what led the Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease to establish an Interagency Group on Public Education and Communication. This volume captures the essence of the "Workshop on the Role of Government in Health Risk Communication and Public Education" held in January 1987. It also includes some valuable appendixes with practical guides to risk communication. As such, it is an important building block in the effort to improve our collective ability to carry on this critical public dialogue. Lee M. Thomas Administrator, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Chairman, The Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease Preface The Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease is an interagency group established by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 (P.L. 95-95). Congress mandated the Task Force to recommend research to determine the relationship between environmental pollutants and human disease and to recommend research aimed at reduc­ ing the incidence of environment-related disease. The Task Force's Project Group on Public Education and Communication focuses on education as a means of reducing or preventing disease. One of the greatest challenges facing those concerned with health and environmental risks is how to carry on a useful public dialogue on these subjects. In a democracy, it is the public that ultimately makes the key decisions on how these risks will be controlled. The stakes are too high for us not to do our very best. The importance of this subject is what led the Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease to establish an Interagency Group on Public Education and Communication. This volume captures the essence of the "Workshop on the Role of Government in Health Risk Communication and Public Education" held in January 1987. It also includes some valuable appendixes with practical guides to risk communication. As such, it is an important building block in the effort to improve our collective ability to carry on this critical public dialogue. Lee M. Thomas Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Chairman, The Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease Preface The Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease is an interagency group established by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 (P.L. 95-95). Congress mandated the Task Force to recommend research to determine the relationship between environmental pollutants and human disease and to recommend research aimed at reducƯ ing the incidence of environment-related disease. The Task Force's Project Group on Public Education and Communication focuses on education as a means of reducing or preventing disease