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Carcinogen Regulation: Risk Characteristics And The Synthetic Risk Bias, W. Kip Viscusi
Carcinogen Regulation: Risk Characteristics And The Synthetic Risk Bias, W. Kip Viscusi
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In this paper, I will explore the decision to regulate natural and synthetic chemicals. To what extent are regulatory decisions driven by the severity of the risk as opposed to the character of the risk exposure? The striking result is that the risk severity plays a very small role. Instead.it is whether the chemical is synthetic or natural that is the driving force behind regulatory decisions.
The Rutabaga That Ate Pittsburgh: Federal Regulation Of Free Release Biotechnology, Michael P. Vandenbergh
The Rutabaga That Ate Pittsburgh: Federal Regulation Of Free Release Biotechnology, Michael P. Vandenbergh
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first approved a field test of a bioengineered microbe,' one EPA official remarked: "We're not expecting this to be the rutabaga that eats Pittsburgh.' 2 But regulators cannot afford to be wrong. Bioengineered microbes may serve many useful purposes, but they may also cause harm to the environment and to human health.3 Although the risks of an accident stemming from the deliberate release of bioengineered microbes into the environment may be low, the resulting damage could be substantial. This note examines the possible consequences of two recent trends in biotechnology-the development of bioengineered microbes …