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EDB: A Case Study in Communicating Risk
Author(s) -
Sharlin Harold Issadore
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1986.tb00194.x
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , regulatory agency , newspaper , action (physics) , public information , business , public relations , ethylene dibromide , risk analysis (engineering) , political science , public administration , sociology , advertising , toxicology , social science , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
This is a report on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) efforts to communicate with the public about the risks of ethylene dibromide (EDB), what the agency said it was doing about these risks and what information the public actually received through television and newspapers. Although special in many ways, the EDB case illustrates the problems that regulatory agencies have when they must take regulatory action and assure the public that the risks in question are being dealt with adequately. It also illustrates issues that the press faces. Above all, it illustrates the barriers to communication presented by the different perspectives of regulatory agencies and individuals and the types of information they each are most interested in.