Risk Regulation

Term Paper # 105540

Environmental Studies

Risk Regulation

An overview of new risk regulations that have occurred due to technological development.

2,622 words () | 10 sources | MLA | 2008 Romania

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the issue of the growing trend to identify a causal link between technological development and the appearance of health damages on the human or environmental life. It outlines the origins of this trend, the present situation and describes the various criticisms that exist.

Outline:
Introduction
Origins
Approaches to Risk Regulation
Criticism
Current status
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Starting with the early '60s, when science and people were able to identify a causal link between technological development and the appearance of health damages on the human or environmental life, a whole new multidimensional movement - the green or environmentalist movement - grew up to the point of raising ardent international debates and radically changing political agendas. Living in a world where regulation seems to be the key to species survival, the state - as the sole or main legitimate regulator - could not stand aside from the alarming issues that the environmentalist were warning about. Be it the air we breathe, the water we drink or the food we eat, be it the place where we work or how we govern our own private dwellings, all now come under more or less strict regulations imposed by the state. The western model of liberty itself - praised for its powerful freedom - seems now to come with the cost of increased responsibility. Political thinkers are even talking about a new kind of citizen - the ecological one , as opposed to the traditional types of either liberal or republican. So it is our necessary connection with these new green rules of the game, which requests a better understanding of how they appeared and what are they."

Sample of Sources Used:

APPLEGATE , John S., "The Perils of Unreasonable Risk: Information, Regulatory Policy, and Toxic Substances Control" in Columbia Law Review, Vol. 91, No. 2, Mar., 1991
DOBSON, Andrew, Citizenship and the Environment, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003
HENSTER, Ronald E. and R.M. HARRISON (Editors), Risk Assessment and Risk Management, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge 1998
HOOD, Christopher, Henry ROTHSTEIN, Robert BALDWIN, The Government of Risk: Understanding Risk Regulation Regimes, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004
JOSHI, Satish, Ranjani KRISHNAN, Lester LAVE, "Estimating the hidden costs of Environmental Regulation", in The Accounting Review, Vol. 76, No. 2, Apr., 2001