Sound science, public values and public perceptions of risk

1
Sound science, public values and public
perceptions of risk

• George Gaskell
• London School of Economics
• CropLife International Conference
• Brussels June 2004
• g.gaskell_at_lse.ac.uk

2
The Life Sciences project

• A textbook innovation strategy
• Vision mobilising resources towards a
  collective future
• Capital base investor relations
• Government support the revolving door
• Market relations cultivating the farmers

3
The market model of innovation
Market
Innovation
Regulation
4
It foundered what went wrong?

• The unexpected.
• Food crises BSE, FMD etc
• New value orientations in society
• Globalisation and the risk society
• Emergence of extra-market forces

5
And the outcomes

• Distrust in science and risk assessment
• Mobilization of publics
• The de facto moratorium in Europe
• WTO dispute
• Precautionary principle
• Governance and public consultation
• Result Innovation stalled

6
Innovation the 3rd hurdle

• Public

Media coverage
Market
Public sphere
Innovation
Consumers and citizens
Regulation
7
Modernisation theory

• Three interrelated processes
• Socio-economic development
• Democratisation
• Value change
• Values shift from conformist to emancipatory
  less deference to old hierarchical structures,
  people expect to be heard.

8
Conflicting conceptions of risk

• The two cultures of risk
• Sound science the basis of regulation
• Risk and danger in the public domain

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Risk in the regulatory arena

• Evidence based policy making the rational
  society
• Codex Alimentarius the establishment of
  international standards for risk assessment
• Predicated on a generalised communication medium
  a currency of risk
• But is this possible?
• Yes, say those advocating sound science

10
Sound science, uncertainty and risk

• Natural science the paradigm emerging consensus
  on the concept (representation) of risk
• Relevant and irrelevant dangers
• Relevant familiar to science, objectified as
  risks
• New dangers substantial equivalence
• Uncertainty only legitimate expertise is
  scientific
• Sound science as judge (rules of evidence) and
  jury (verdict)
• But, challenges to objective conceptions of risk

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Public concerns dangers and other hazards

• Scientific uncertainty
• Beyond the limits of knowledge unknown,
  unforeseen and potentially irreversible impacts
• Other concerns
• Moral will scientific hubris meet its nemesis?
• Political who is regulating science, is
  regulation possible?
• Social can we trust the experts?
• Democratic why should technology trump cultural
  values and consumer rights?
• Utilitarian is this progress?
• Deontological god and nature

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What drives public perceptions of risks?

• A broader definition of risks than that of
  scientists
• Dangers as social and cultural problems
  challenges to the normal (moral) rather than
  probabilities
• Uneasy about uncertainty
• Negatives outweigh the positives
• The mere imagining of a negative outcomes makes
  it seem more possible
• Absence of benefits leads to accentuation of risk
• A good story is a better warrant of truth than
  science

13
Food and culture

• A long history of food ethics
• Food more than fuel, a part of culture
• Food ethics includes issues of production,
  preparation and consumption
• Dangers go beyond the scientific safety criteria
  of toxicity and allergenicity
• Ask any American if they would like a real dog
  hot dog

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Changing societies

• Increasingly issues of risk, and risk management,
  like science and technology are becoming more
  like politics in reflecting multiple
  rationalities.
• Disagreements more about values than about the
  esoterics of science. What sort of future we
  want for our societies? Who should decide about
  this at a time of democratic deficits?
• These are questions of ethical values rather than
  science.

15
Meeting the challenge towards a societal debate
on sustainable technologies
Science technology
Values
The public(s)
Politics law
Broadening the scope of ethics to create a
platform for debate on the social implications of
ST.