William Leiss and Christina Chociolko explain that controversies arise in part because many participants try to avoid assuming full responsibility for the consequences of the risk-taking they advocate. For example, one can indulge in the pleasure of nicotine addiction despite an awareness of the health risks and count on a publicly funded health care system to assume the responsibility for dealing with the resulting illnesses. They provide detailed case studies of the controversies over the effects of exposure to power frequency electric and magnetic fields and to the chemical pesticides alar and antisapstains. Shorter studies of exposure to tobacco, formaldehyde, and the pesticide alachlor are also presented. The authors address the difficulties of arriving at reliable scientific estimates of risk in such controversial areas, and the impact of this uncertainty on disagreements among different interest groups over how to manage those risks responsibly. In conclusion they attempt to delineate conditions under which consensus on the assessment and management of environmental health risks might be achieved among a wide range of interest groups. Risk and Responsibility will be of specific interest to policymakers and analysts, activists, and environmentalists, and of general interest to those working in relevant industries and members of the legal profession.

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.

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"No one ever said that risk management was easy. Leiss and Chociolko convincingly argue that the technical approach to resolving risk conflicts should be replaced by processes that lead risk promoters and risk avoiders away from the battlefield and toward the negotiating table. This important and insightful book should be read by everyone with an interest in making better decisions in the face of risk." Paul Slovic, Decision Research "Pathbreaking in its coherence and argument ... it provides an excellent overview of the dimensions of the problem of risk ... the case studies ... are anchored in an overview that makes sense on a practical level and is strong in terms of the scholarly literature ... The contributions to the literature are many-fold, the writing lucid, and the arguments persuasive." Liora Salter, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.