Grantee Research Project Results
Rethinking Decision Making in the Face of Scientific Uncertainty: Operationalizing the Precautionary Principle
EPA Grant Number: U915163Title: Rethinking Decision Making in the Face of Scientific Uncertainty: Operationalizing the Precautionary Principle
Investigators: Tickner, Joel A.
Institution: University of Massachusetts - Lowell
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: September 1, 1997 through September 1, 2000
Project Amount: $102,000
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (1997) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Academic Fellowships , Environmental Justice , Fellowship - Environmental
Objective:
The objective of this research project is to develop and apply a model structure and process to operationalize the precautionary principle in environmental and occupational health decision making concerning toxic substances. Specific questions being asked include:
1. How can the precautionary decision rule be operationalized in environmental and occupational health decisionmaking regarding toxic substances?
2. Why has the precautionary approach not been operationalized in environmental and public health decision making to date?
Approach:
Through the use of qualitative research methods (case studies and document analysis), the research will analyze and explain the theory and practical execution of specific aspects of a precautionary approach. The case studies being analyzed are: (1) burden shifting and lowering in new chemicals regulation under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act; and (2) the association-based weight of evidence process by which veterans’ compensation decisions were made on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Agent Orange. Lessons learned through the case studies then will be applied to a structure for operationalizing the precautionary principle in administrative decision making. This structure will then be applied to a contemporary decision made using current decision making approaches to determine how the precautionary principle might change administrative decision making.
Supplemental Keywords:
fellowship, toxic substances, Agent Orange, Institute of Medicine Committee on Agent Orange, veteran?s compensation, decision making, TSCA, new chemicals regulation, occupational health., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Geographic Area, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Economics & Decision Making, Ecological Risk Assessment, State, decision-making, Social Science, Economics and Business, Florida, environmental law, environmental decision making, precuationary principle, occupational health, environmental policy, decision makingProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.