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120424b Scientization in Risk Assessment
120424b Scientization in Risk Assessment
Judicial Symposium on Scientific Evidence in the Courts George Mason University School of Law Law and Economics Center April 24, 2012 Richard B. Belzer, Ph.D.
My Working Definitions
Politicization of science
n The intentional (a) inclusion of substantive or presentational scientific error or (b) exclusion of information crucial for providing context
Scientization of policy
n The intentional (a) misuse or abuse of science to make or justify policy decisions or (b) conversion of a policy dispute into science
NRC 2005 science (range) NRC 2005 science rounded off Greer et al. 2002 (no effect level) EPA 2004 provisional EPA 1998 2nd draft risk assessment NRC 2005 policy recommendation (divide rounded off science by 10) State of California 2005 EPA 2002 3rd draft risk assessment Environment California 2005
Questions or Comments?
Richard B. Belzer, Ph.D. President Regulatory Checkbook Belzer@RegulatoryCheckbook.Org 703-780-1850