Acceptable Risks

We all know life is full of risks, and having to choose between risks in nothing new; accepting risks has become second nature to us. So why do the media announce almost weekly the evidence of yet another hazard to our safety- and why do we bitterly debate legislation regarding it? Perhaps because as the public becomes more knowledgeable about the nature and effects of many risks, we are also learning how risks are being 'managed' for us. We are being asked not only to confront personal, voluntary risks, but also to decide which involuntary risks are acceptable- and what is voluntary for one person has a way of becoming imposed on another. Or what may seem an 'acceptable' risk standard to a group of government regulators may not be to the citizens to whom that agency is responsible. This book is a political, philosophical, and psychological examination of risks in our society: an investigation of how risks are defined and responded to on a personal, corporate, and governmental- even global- basis. At its core is the fact that today the public is often ambivalent toward risk, at least until it begins to affect us personally. As the authors discuss a range of issues and proceed from chosen risks to how the public is informed, misinformed, or uninformed about risks, we learn of the impact our inaction has on our lives and by understanding risk determination, how we have come to live in a world of risks that are considered respectable, acceptable risks. -- from Book Jacket.