In the Chamber of Risks

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), Eric Darier (Greenpeace), Greg Paoli (Decisionalysis Risk Consultants, Inc.), and Peter V. Hodson (Queen's University).

William Leiss is professor at the School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, and also holds the NSERC/SSHRC Research Chair in Risk Communication and Public Policy in the Faculty of Management, University of Calgary.