Risk assessment, risk values and the social science programme: why we do need risk perception research

摘要

the paper poses the question of whether the findings from social science research on risk perception could (or indeed should) find direct application in the domains of risk regulation and management. The problem this poses, of balancing and integrating the best available scientific judgements and evidence on the one hand with aspects of public risk evaluations on the other, is one of the most difficult questions to be faced by democratic governments and their regulators today.