Effective Risk Communication

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Overview

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Principles and Guidelines for Improving Risk Communication

      • Vincent T. Covello, David B. McCallum, Maria Pavlova

      Pages 3-16

3. Perspectives on Government Risk Communication

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

      PDF

   2. The Federal Role in Risk Communication and Public Education

      • James O. Mason

      Pages 19-25

   3. Communicating with the Public on Health Risks

      • Arthur C. Upton

      Pages 27-30

   4. The Role of Risk Communication in Environmental Gridlock

      • Christopher J. Daggett

      Pages 31-36

   5. Risk Communication: Moving from Theory to Law to Practice

      • Michael Baram

      Pages 37-43

   6. Hazard versus Outrage in the Public Perception of Risk

      • Peter M. Sandman

      Pages 45-49

4. Government Risk Communication Programs

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 51-51

      PDF

   2. The Government as Lighthouse

      • Frederick W. Allen

      Pages 53-61

   3. Qualitative Risk Assessment

      • Barry L. Johnson

      Pages 63-66

   4. De Minimis Risk from Chemicals in Food

      • Robert J. Scheuplein

      Pages 67-71

   5. Interactions between State and Federal Programs

      • Peter D. Galbraith

      Pages 73-75

   6. Interactions between Community/Local Government and Federal Programs

      • Thomas Wilson

      Pages 77-81

   7. A White House Perspective on Risk Communication

      • Alvin L. Young

      Pages 83-87

5. Case Studies of Government Risk Communication

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 89-89

      PDF

   2. The Newark Dioxin Case

      • James R. Marshall

      Pages 91-94

   3. A Landfill Case in California

      • Raymond R. Neutra

      Pages 95-99

   4. Phosphorus Release in Miamisburg, Ohio

      • Allan D. Franks

      Pages 101-103

One of the greatest challenges facing those concerned with health and environmental risks is how to carry on a useful public dialogue on these subjects. In a democracy, it is the public that ultimately makes the key decisions on how these risks will be controlled. The stakes are too high for us not to do our very best. The importance of this subject is what led the Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease to establish an Interagency Group on Public Education and Communication. This volume captures the essence of the "Workshop on the Role of Government in Health Risk Communication and Public Education" held in January 1987. It also includes some valuable appendixes with practical guides to risk communication. As such, it is an important building block in the effort to improve our collective ability to carry on this critical public dialogue. Lee M. Thomas Administrator, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Chairman, The Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease Preface The Task Force on Environmental Cancer and Heart and Lung Disease is an interagency group established by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 (P.L. 95-95). Congress mandated the Task Force to recommend research to determine the relationship between environmental pollutants and human disease and to recommend research aimed at reduc­ ing the incidence of environment-related disease. The Task Force's Project Group on Public Education and Communication focuses on education as a means of reducing or preventing disease.

• development
• education
• environment
• management
• organization
• statistics

• Center for Risk Communication, Division of Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

  Vincent T. Covello

• The Institute for Health Policy Analysis, Georgetown University Medical Center, USA

  David B. McCallum

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, New York, USA

  Maria T. Pavlova

Policies and ethics