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Health & Fitness Health Care Issues

In the Chamber of Risks

Understanding Risk Controversies

by (author) William Leiss

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Nov 2001
Category
Health Care Issues, Management
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780773522466
    Publish Date
    Nov 2001
    List Price
    $32.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773522381
    Publish Date
    Nov 2001
    List Price
    $110.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773569515
    Publish Date
    Nov 2001
    List Price
    $110.00

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Description

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 the author

William Leiss is a fellow and past president of the Royal Society of Canada, an officer of the Order of Canada, and professor emeritus at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University. He is the author of several books, including Mad Cows and Mother’s Milk: The Perils of Poor Risk Communication.

William Leiss' profile page