The politics of chemical risk : scenarios for a regulatory future

All industrial countries have developed regulatory systems to assess and manage the risk of chemical substances to the working and natural environment. The pressure to harmonize these often specialized regulatory systems is increasingly strong at the international level. Such harmonization not only entails the assessment of particular chemicals, but also the way assessment procedures and their boundary with risk management is organized. As these initiatives intensify, they increasingly raise important questions of how to integrate national differences in the international regulatory arena. How will national consultation procedures relate to international decision-making on chemical risks? How will differences in national risk assessment procedures be accommodated? How will the international regulatory system be integrated with different national styles of regulation and government? Presenting the experiences and insights of both people from within the worlds of risk assessment and management and from the field of Science Studies, this book forms a state-of-the-art in the discussion on the Politics of Chemical Risk. By offering scenarios, or sketches of a regulatory future, it points to the choices that can be made and the opportunities to be explored. As such, it offers an agenda for environmental and occupational scientists, policy-makers and students of science and technology alike. Front Matter....Pages i-xi General Introduction....Pages 1-6 Front Matter....Pages 7-12 The Risk Assessment / Risk Management Boundary Myth Making and Its Implications in the United Kingdom....Pages 13-26 Exposure Limits, Practicability and Health Risks Arguments for a Paradigm Shift....Pages 27-73 Boundary Dynamics in Dutch Standard Setting for Occupational Chemicals....Pages 75-103 Front Matter....Pages 115-120 Recommending Health-Based Exposure Limits in the National and International Arena: A Personal View....Pages 121-129 Some Considerations on the European Union and the Politics of Chemical Risk for Workers’ Health....Pages 131-157 Integrating Sweden into the European Union: Problems Concerning Chemicals Control....Pages 159-171 Harmonization — The Politics of Reasoning Together....Pages 173-194 Front Matter....Pages 203-207 Risk Management of Chemical Substances in the European Union....Pages 209-229 Regulatory Science and the European Control of Agrochemicals....Pages 231-250 Standards, Science and the Politics of Chemical Risk....Pages 251-263 Standardization as a Trust Device....Pages 265-291 Front Matter....Pages 301-301 The Politics of Chemical Risk Scenarios for Regulatory Policy....Pages 303-332 Postscript: Notes on the Workshop as an Experiment....Pages 333-344 Back Matter....Pages 345-367