Politics, Sound Science and the Precautionary Principle
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidbiotech/comments/comments92.htm

Bereano, Philip L.
Harvard University

Abstract:

William Lowrence’s Of Acceptable Risk (1976) began the forthright treatment of the subjective elements of risk assessment. Maintaining that 'risk' was scientifically objective, his discussion of 'safety'—as socially acceptable risk—acknowledged the political nature of the overall evaluation. But even a rigid determination of a clear risk—say of injury from skydiving—cannot tell us why only some people will agree to jump from an airplane.