Month: September 2022

JOSEPH GUTH on the cost-benefit analysis, which enjoys a special status in U.S. law and policy. "U.S. law was designed to promote economic growth ... faced with uncertainty, ignorance or doubt, the law presumes that economic growth should continue - until an explicit cost-benefit analysis can show conclusively that the costs to society outweigh any benefits." http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2009/032009/interview-montague.html View in LinkedIn

GREAT EXAMPLE OF PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE Nov 2, 2014. "Climate change is happening, it's almost entirely man's fault and limiting its impacts may require reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero this century, the U.N.'s panel on climate science said Sunday." http://lnkd.in/dNiUzMW View in LinkedIn

CLIMATE CHANGE could be characterized as an untestable experiment, and proponents of change adopt the Precautionary Principle, and opponents some kind of Risk Management driven by expanding economic growth. This is basis for understanding the contrary argument, unfathomable on the face of it, from the other viewpoint. View in LinkedIn

US COST-BENEFIT BIAS. "Even when considerable harm is acknowledged, the starting presumption is that economic growth provides more benefits than costs." http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2009/032009/interview-montague.html View in LinkedIn

US COST-BENEFIT BIAS. "Therefore, faced with uncertainty, ignorance or doubt, the law presumes that economic growth should continue - until an explicit cost-benefit analysis can show conclusively that the costs to society outweigh any benefits." http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2009/032009/interview-montague.html View in LinkedIn

COST-BENEFIT BURDEN. "Given the starting presumption, it is up to the public (or their government) to show that costs exceed benefits. If they fail to meet that burden, an economic activity can continue ... scientific uncertainty, doubt and ignorance allow economic activity to continue, even when it is acknowledged to be causing substantial harm." http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2009/032009/interview-montague.html View in LinkedIn

THE BURDEN OF PROOF in the Cost-Benefit model is on the government or private citizens to challenge the safety of a proposed product. This is why product reversals in the US can take decades even when academic studies have shown harm. It is also why non-profit agencies frequently sue regulators to take action and withdraw harmful products. View in LinkedIn

INDUSTRY OF DOUBT. "This has led to the rise of an industry devoted to the creation of uncertainty and doubt. David Michaels has described this industry in his excellent book, Doubt is Their Product. ... the world has been badly damaged by the cost-benefit approach in which all economic activities are assumed to produce more benefits than harms." http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2009/032009/interview-montague.html View in LinkedIn

"CONFLICTS OF INTEREST should be revealed. Scientists working for the industry should be excluded from peer review and science advisory boards. All tests done by industry should be publically announced and acknowledged, and their data, regardless of their outcome and interpretation, should be publically available." http://forum.thefreedictionary.com/postst59380_-Doubt-is-Their-Product----Is-Your-Country-Attacking-Science-.aspx View in LinkedIn

BACKGROUNDER ON CURRENT DEBATE in science is the next focus as a primer for having some understanding of the ongoing TTIP free trade talks between the US and EC. At first blush the vast differences of opinion are unfathomable. This becomes less so, at least for me, when considering the junction of science and policy in both jurisdictions. View in LinkedIn