Scientific expertise among political powers, administrations and public opinion

摘要

Expert scientific appraisal is either confidential to the government commissioning it, or open to public debate. At the executive level of the Euro-pean Community, intergovernmental negotia-tions substitute for the electorate. This renders expert appraisal incapable of becoming truly public. To overcome this, the conditions under which scientific interventions are implemented must be institutionalised. Time is indispensable if scientists/experts are to make sound judge-ments regarding complex phenomena: thus 'emergency' should be banned.