Communicating the Risks and Benefits of Technology: The Case of Pharmaceuticals

Abstract

In the past two decades public concerns about the risks of technologies, ranging from nuclear power to pharmaceutical products, have been expressed in extended media coverage, frequent controversies, and increased litigation and regulation [38]. Risk assessment has become a veritable industry, involving the complex and controversial process of evaluating the risks of technology, communicating information about risks to the public, and developing appropriate controls. Evaluating risk requires interpretive judgment in the face of technical uncertainty and scientific disagreement. What constitutes significant and meaningful evidence? Whose judgment is to be considered in evaluating the severity and acceptability of risk? What rules of evidence should guide legal and policy decisions? Controlling and communcating risk involves questions of social responsibility and political legitimacy. What are the appropriate roles and limits of government in regulating industrial practices? What information should be conveyed to the public? Who should be involved in decisions about risk? These are deeply divisive questions and the source of heated debate, for risk assessments affect the economic interests and political values of different social or cultural groups.