| 1. |
- Hansson, Bengt, et al.
(författare)
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A Theoria Round Table on Philosophy Publishing
- 2011
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Ingår i: Theoria. - : Wiley. - 0040-5825 .- 1755-2567. ; 77:2, s. 104-116
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As part of the conference commemorating Theoria's 75th anniversary, a round table discussion on philosophy publishing was held in Bergendal, Sollentuna, Sweden, on 1 October 2010. Bengt Hansson was the chair, and the other participants were eight editors-in-chief of philosophy journals: Hans van Ditmarsch (Journal of Philosophical Logic), Pascal Engel (Dialectica), Sven Ove Hansson (Theoria), Vincent Hendricks (Synthese), S circle divide ren Holm (Journal of Medical Ethics), Pauline Jacobson (Linguistics and Philosophy), Anthonie Meijers (Philosophical Explorations), Henry S. Richardson (Ethics) and Hans Rott (Erkenntnis).
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| 2. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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Arguments against Vision Zero: A Literature Review
- 2022. - 1
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Ingår i: The Vision Zero Handbook. - Switzerland : Springer Nature. ; , s. 107-149
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite Vision Zero’s moral appeal and its expansion throughout the world, it has been criticized on different grounds. This chapter is based on an extensive literature search for criticism of Vision Zero, using the bibliographic databases Philosopher’s Index, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Phil Papers, and by following the references in the collected documents. Even if the primary emphasis was on Vision Zero in road traffic, our search also included documents criticizing Vision Zero policies in other safety areas, such as public health, the construction and mining industries, and workplaces in general. Based on the findings, we identify and systematically characterize and classify the major arguments that have been put forward against Vision Zero. The most important arguments against Vision Zero can be divided into three major categories: moral arguments, arguments concerning the (goalsetting) rationality of Vision Zero, and arguments aimed at the practical implementation of the goals. We also assess the arguments. Of the thirteen identified main arguments, six were found to be useful for a constructive discussion on safety improvements.
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| 3. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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Can Cost Benefit Analysis and Vision Zero be Reconciled?
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and Vision Zero are often considered to be incompatible approaches to road traffic safety. The discord between the two can be traced back to basic incompatibilities between utilitarian and deontological modes of moral thinking. However, both have something to contribute. CBA is an expression of the reasonable principle that the resources available for improving traffic safety should be used as efficiently as possible, and Vision Zero expresses the equally reasonable principle that deaths and serious injuries in road traffic are always unacceptable. The two can be reconciled, if due attention is paid to the fact that Vision Zero accepts temporary compromises, albeit not end-goal compromises, and the efficiency analysis of CBA is disassociated from claims of optimality. We propose two ways to reconcile the two approaches. First, the results of a CBA can be presented not only for the currently used life-value but also for alternative, higher life-values. Secondly, essentially the same information can be presented in the form of cost-effectiveness safety analysis (CESA), which reports the economic costs per life saved. We propose that a CESA should be performed for all road traffic projects, not only those that have safety improvement as their main objective. In this way, an economically informed total overview of the impact of Vision Zero in traffic safety can be obtained.
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| 4. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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Can Cost Benefit Analysis and Vision Zero be Reconciled?
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and Vision Zero are often considered to be incompatible approaches to road traffic safety. The discord between the two can be traced back to basic incompatibilities between utilitarian and deontological modes of moral thinking. However, both have something to contribute. CBA is an expression of the reasonable principle that the resources available for improving traffic safety should be used as efficiently as possible, and Vision Zero expresses the equally reasonable principle that deaths and serious injuries in road traffic are always unacceptable. The two can be reconciled, if due attention is paid to the fact that Vision Zero accepts temporary compromises, albeit not end-goal compromises, and the efficiency analysis of CBA is disassociated from claims of optimality. We propose two ways to reconcile the two approaches. First, the results of a CBA can be presented not only for the currently used life-value but also for alternative, higher life-values. Secondly, essentially the same information can be presented in the form of cost-effectiveness safety analysis (CESA), which reports the economic costs per life saved. We propose that a CESA should be performed for all road traffic projects, not only those that have safety improvement as their main objective. In this way, an economically informed total overview of the impact of Vision Zero in traffic safety can be obtained.
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| 5. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-
(författare)
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Ethical Issues in the Adoption and Implementation of Vision Zero Policies in Road Safety
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this doctoral thesis is to analyze ethical issues in the adoption and implementation of Vision Zero policies. The first article analyses criticisms against Vision Zero goals and measures promoted to reach them. We identify and assess “moral”, “operational”, and “rationality-based” arguments against Vision Zero. In total, thirteen different criticisms are analyzed. The second article seeks to reconcile the two major decision-making principles in road safety work, i.e., Cost Benefit Analysis and Vision Zero, which are often viewed as incompatible. We argue that the two principles can be compatible if the implementation of Vision Zero accepts temporal compromises intended to promote efficient allocation of resources, and the results of Cost Benefit Analysis are viewed not as optimal and satisfactory as long as fatal and serious injuries continue occurring. The third article uses Vision Zero as a normative framework to explore and analyze road safety work in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The ensuing analysis shows that there are significant differences between Addis Ababa road safety policies and Vision Zero in terms of how road safety problems are understood and in their responsibility ascriptions for improving road safety problems. It is argued that enhancing road safety in the city requires promoting a broader view of the causes and remedies of road safety problems. Moreover, given the magnitude and severity of road safety problems in the city, it is vital to emphasize the moral responsibility of actors responsible for the design and operation of the road system, and entities that procure and own large number of vehicles. The fourth article analyses equity and social justice considerations in Vision Zero efforts in New York City (NYC). Moreover, this study seeks to understand and assess how the city accounts for equity and social justice implications of road safety work. The result of the study shows that equity and social justice considerations played important roles in the initial adoption of Vision Zero policy in the city. Nonetheless, the study also shows that the adoption and implementation process gave rise to important equity and social justice issues which are primarily related to the method of prioritization used in road safety work in the city, equity and fairness in the distribution of life saving interventions, the socioeconomic impacts of road safety strategies, and the nature of community engagement in policy design and implementation. The findings of this study, among others, point to a need for Vision Zero practitioners to give due considerations to equity and social justice implications of Vision Zero policies and strategies. The fifth article analyzes the nature and moral acceptability of risk impositions from car driving in a low-income country context. It is shown that car driving involves an unfair and morally problematic risk imposition in which some stakeholders, namely those who decide on the nature of the risk in the road system and benefit the most from car driving, impose a significant risk of harm on others, who neither benefit from the risk imposition nor have decision-making role related to the risks they are exposed to. It is argued that addressing moral problems arising from the unfair risk imposition necessitates the promotion, on the part of beneficiaries and decision makers, of certain types of moral obligations related to the nature and magnitude of road crash risks. Importantly, those who benefit the most from car driving, and actors who decide on the risk level in the road system, have the moral obligation to implement effective risk reducing measures that protect those unfairly risk exposed, obligations to know more about road crash risks, obligations to compensate victims, obligations to communicate with the risk exposed and incorporate their concerns in policy making, and obligations to bring about attitudinal change.
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| 6. |
- Abebe, Henok Girma, 1988-
(författare)
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The Rationality and Moral Acceptability of Vision Zero Goal and Its Interventions
- 2021
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This licentiate thesis discusses moral issues associated with road safety work, with a particular emphasis on the Vision Zero (VZ) goal and its interventions. The licentiate thesis contains three articles and an introduction that briefly discusses issues and arguments presented in the articles.The first article, identifies, systematically categorizes and evaluates arguments against VZ. Moral, operational, and rationality related criticisms against the adoption and implementation of VZ are identified and discussed. The second article in this thesis seeks to reconcile the methods of Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) and VZ in road safety decision making. CBA has been and still is a major decision making tool in road transport and traffic safety work. However, proponents of VZ question the use of CBA in road safety and transport decision making on methodological and ethical grounds. In this paper, we locate the philosophical roots of the conflicting views promoted by proponents of CBA and VZ. Then we try to identify ways through which the two methods can be made compatible.The third and final paper uses VZ as a normative framework to explore and analyse the Addis Ababa road safety work. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, the paper seeks to examine how road safety problems are actually understood by those responsible for road safety at the local level. To this end, government policy documents, reports and other relevant sources where consulted to identify how road safety problems are framed, who is assigned responsibility for addressing road safety problems and through what interventions. Second, the paper aims to examine road safety work in the city from a normative point of view, i.e., what is the best, or most adequate, way of framing the problem, and who should be given the responsibility for addressing the problem and by what measures. It is argued that enhancing road safety in the city requires adopting a broader view of causes of road safety problems, and emphasizing the responsibility of actors that shape the design and operation of the traffic system and the safety of its components.
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| 7. |
- Baard, Patrik, 1981-
(författare)
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Cautiously utopian goals : Philosophical analyses of climate change objectives and sustainability targets
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this thesis, the framework within which long-term goals are set and subsequently achieved or approached is analyzed. Sustainable development and climate change are areas in which goals have tobe set despite uncertainties. The analysis is divided into the normative motivations for setting such goals, what forms of goals could be set given the empirical and normative uncertainties, and how tomanage doubts regarding achievability or values after a goal has been set.Paper I discusses a set of questions that moral theories intended to guide goal-setting should respond to. It is often claimed that existent normative theories provide only modest guidance regarding climate change, and consequently have to be revised or supplemented. Two such suggested revisions or supplements are analyzed in order to determine whether they provide such guidance.Paper II applies the deep ecological framework to survey the extent to which it can be utilized to discuss issues concerning the management of climate change. It is suggested that the deep ecological framework can provide guidance by establishing a normative framework and an analysis of how the overarching values and principles can be specified to be relevant for actions.Paper III is focused on normative political theory, and explicates the two dimensions of empirical and normative uncertainty. By applying recent discussions in normative political theory on ideal/non-ideal theory, political realism, and the relation between normative demands and empirical constraints,strategies for managing the proposed goals are suggested.Paper IV suggests a form of goal that incorporates uncertainties. Cautious utopias allow greater uncertainty than realistic goals (goals that are known to be achievable or approachable, and desirable),but not to the same extent as utopian goals (goals wherein it is highly uncertain whether the goal can actually be achieved). Such goals have a performance-enhancing function. A definition and quality criteria for such goals are proposed.Paper V considers whether a goal that is becoming all the more unlikely to be achievable should be reconsidered. The paper focuses on the two degrees Celsius target, and asks whether it could still be a sensible goal to aspire to. By applying the principle that ‘ought’ implies ‘can’, the role of such obligations is investigated.Paper VI surveys how to treat circumstances in which an already set goal should be reconsidered and possibly revised, and what would evoke doubt in the belief upon which those goals have been set.Two situations are analyzed: (i) a problematic or surprising event occurs, upsetting confidence in one’s relevant beliefs, or (ii) respectable but dissenting views are voiced concerning one’s means and/or values. It is suggested that the validity of doubt has to be considered, in addition to the level in a goal-means hierarchy towards which doubt is raised.
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| 8. |
- Baard, Patrik, 1981-
(författare)
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Sustainable Goals : Feasible Paths to Desirable Long-Term Futures
- 2014
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The general aim of this licentiate thesis is to analyze the framework in which long-term goals are set and subsequently achieved. It is often claimed that goals should be realistic, meaning that they should be adjusted to known abilities. This thesis will argue that this might be very difficult in areas related to sustainable development and climate change adaptation, and that goals that are, to an acceptable degree, unrealistic, can have important functions.Essay I discusses long-term goal setting. When there is a great temporal discrepancy between the point in time of setting and achieving a goal, many uncertainties have to be considered. The surrounding world and the agent’s abilities and values might change. This is an ontological uncertainty. We often form beliefs regarding how abilities and values might change, but this belief is always uncertain. This is an epistemological uncertainty. A form of goal called cautiously utopian goals is proposed, which incorporate such uncertainties, but enables goal setting with long time-frames.Essay II discusses the issue of goals intended to reduce great risks. We cannot expect an agent to do something that lies beyond this agent’s abilities, as exemplified in the principle ‘ought implies can’. Adjusting goals to what we currently, with a high degree of certainty know could be done is difficult. If not including an estimation of how abilities can change, important performance-enhancing functions of goals might be lost. It is argued that very ambitious goals should be set. This is partly due to the great magnitude and likelihood of unwanted consequences and partly due to the difficulty of delineating what lies in agents’ capacity to manage complex risks.Essay III discusses a decision-facilitating tool Sustainability Analysis to be used by Swedish municipal planners. One sub-part of the tool, Goal Conflict Analysis, can be used to identify how the consequences of a planned adaptation measure will affect other long-term municipal goals. Identified goal conflicts can then be used in order to determine whether the conflicts are acceptable, or whether a different adaptation measure should be worked out. The paper discusses a workshop in a Swedish municipality in which the tool has been tested.
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| 9. |
- Belfrage, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Ethical problems in traffic research
- 2006
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Ingår i: TRA - TRANSPORT RESEARCH ARENA EUROPE 2006.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Traffic research gives rise to many types of ethical issues. In this paper we focus on ethical issues that arise when human beings are directly affected in the performance of research, by comparing traffic research to the ethical requirements imposed on biomedical research. After introducing the basic ethical requirements on biomedical research, each of the major requirements is discussed in relation to traffic research. We identify the main areas where biomedical research and traffic research differ, and where the ethical requirements from the former cannot easily be transferred to the latter. Finally, we argue that there is a need for systematic studies of the ethics of traffic research and point to some of the issues that need to be addressed (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E212343
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| 10. |
- Belfrage, Sara, 1977-
(författare)
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In the name of research : Essays on the ethical treatment of human research subjects
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Essay 1: Traffic research shares a fundamental dilemma with other areas of empirical research in which humans are potentially put at risk. Research is justified because it can improve safety in the long run. Nevertheless, people can be harmed in the research situation. Hence, we need to balance short-term risks against long-term safety improvements, much as in other areas of research with human subjects. In this paper we focus on ethical issues that arise when human beings are directly affected in the performance of research by examining how the ethical requirements in biomedical research can inform traffic research. After introducing the basic ethical requirements on biomedical research, each of the major requirements is discussed in relation to traffic research. We identify the main areas where biomedical research and traffic research differ, and where the ethical requirements from the former cannot easily be transferred to the latter. We then point to some of the issues that need to be addressed for a systematic approach to the ethics of traffic research.Essay 2: The requirement of always obtaining participants’ informed consent in research with human subjects cannot always be met, for a variety of reasons. In this paper, research situations where informed consent is unobtainable are described and categorised. Some of these kinds of situations, common in biomedicine and psychology, have been previously much discussed, whereas others, more prevalent in for example infrastructure research, introduce new perspectives. The advancement of new technology may lead to an increase in research of these kinds. The paper also provides a review of methods intended to compensate for a lack of consent and their applicability and usefulness for the different categories of situations are discussed, thereby providing insights into one important aspect of relevance for the question of permitting research without informed consent: how well that which informed consent is meant to safeguard can be achieved by other means.Essay 3: This paper starts with the assumption that it is morally problematic when people in need are offered money in exchange for research participation if the amount offered is unfair. Such offers are called “coercive”, and the degree of coerciveness is said to be determined by the offer’s potential to cause exploitation and its irresistibility. Depending on what view we take on the possibility to compensate for the sacrifices made by research participants, a wish to avoid “coercive offers” leads to policy recommendations concerning payment for participation. For sacrifices considered compensable we ought to offer either no payment or payment at a level deemed fair, while for sacrifices deemed incompensable we always ought to offer no payment.Essay 4: It is commonly thought that transactions that are the result of voluntary gift-giving do not constitute exploitation. This paper argues that exploitation is indeed possible in such situations, by showing how gift-giving can fulfil the two commonly proposed criteria for exploitation, namely that in an interaction between two persons one receives disproportionally little and the other disproportionally much of the resulting benefits, and that this disproportion is caused by the latter making inappropriate use of a disadvantage of the former. A theoretical approach to what such inappropriate use would amount to in cases of gift-giving is lacking. The paper therefore aims at spelling out such an approach. The method of reflective equilibrium inspires this endeavour, which proceeds by testing intuitions about examples that embody a set of possible conditions. It is concluded that three of the conditions are necessary for exploitation of gift-giving, namely (1) the giver incurs a loss, (2) the recipient has aimed for the gift, and (3) the gift is undeserved.
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| 11. |
- Bergman, Åke, et al.
(författare)
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Giftfritt – en nyttig utopi
- 2009
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Ingår i: Chemicalnet.se.
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
- Björkman, Barbro, et al.
(författare)
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Bodily Rights and Property Rights
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of Medical Ethics. - : BMJ. - 0306-6800 .- 1473-4257. ; 32:4, s. 209-214
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Whereas previous discussions on ownership of biological material have been much informed by the natural rights tradition, insufficient attention has been paid to the strand in liberal political theory represented by Felix Cohen, Tony Honore, and others, which treats property relations as socially constructed bundles of rights. In accordance with that tradition, we propose that the primary normative issue is what combination of rights a person should have to a particular item of biological material. Whether that bundle qualifies to be called `` property'' or `` ownership'' is a secondary, terminological issue. We suggest five principles of bodily rights and show how they can be applied to the construction of ethically appropriate bundles of rights to biological material.
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| 17. |
- Björkman, Barbro, 1974-
(författare)
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Virtue Ethics, Bioethics, and the Ownership of Biological Material
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis is to show how some ideas in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics can be interpreted and used as a productive way to approach a number of pressing issues in bioethics. Articles I-II introduce, and endorse, a social constructivist perspective on rights (as opposed to the more traditional natural rights idea). It is investigated if the existence of property-like rights to biological material would include the moral right to commodification and even commercialisation. Articles III-V discuss similar questions and more specifically champion the application of an Aristotelian virtue ethics perspective. The articles are preceded by an introductory essay on some of the central themes in the Nicomachean Ethics. This section also includes a very brief account of what the connection between virtue ethics and a theory of social construction, including rights, could look like. The thesis seeks to show that if read somewhat creatively many of the ideas in the Nicomachean Ethics make for a highly useful approach to modern moral problems. It should be noted, however, that this thesis in no way claims to be an exegetic, or a complete, study of the Nicomachean Ethics. Article I deals with ownership of biological material from a philosophical, as opposed to a legal, perspective. It is argued that a strand in liberal political theory that treats property relations as socially constructed bundles of rights, as developed by e.g. Felix Cohen and Tony Honoré, is well suited for discussions on ownership of biological material. Article II investigates which differences in biological material might motivate differences in treatment and ownership rights. The article draws on the social constructivist theory of ownership which was developed in Article I. Article III employs virtue ethics to explain why it is morally permissible to donate but not to sell organs such as kidneys. It is suggested that the former action will bring the agent closer to a state of human flourishing. Article IV argues that virtues like philia, justice, beneficence and generosity — traditionally all seen as other-regarding — contain strong self-regarding aspects. The central claim is that these self-regarding aspects of the other-regarding virtues are necessary components of complete virtue and thus that the fully virtuous agent has to act virtuously both in her dealings with herself and others. Article V applies the ideas that were developed in Article IV to the case of living organ donations to next of kin. It is proposed that such an act, although noble and fine, is supererogatory, rather than obligatory, as the donor is morally entitled to be partial to herself. This argument is made against the backdrop of a discussion on some Aristotelian ideas on philia and partiality.
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| 18. |
- Björnberg, Karin Edvardsson, et al.
(författare)
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Preface
- 2022
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Ingår i: The Vision Zero Handbook: Theory, Technology and Management for a Zero Casualty Policy. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. ; , s. v-vi
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Globally, about 1.3 million people die every year in road traffic crashes and about 50 million are injured. For long, the death toll on roads was considered to be a necessary price that we have to pay for our mobility and development. But beginning in the late 1990s, an alternative approach to road safety has become more and more influential. The Vision Zero movement declares that every severe crash in road traffic is an avoidable failure and that no other goal is satisfactory than zero fatalities and serious injuries. This is by no means a new idea. Similar views have been expressed in many other areas of safety management. Safety work based on the idea that every accident is one too much can be found in workplace safety, fire safety, aviation, suicide prevention, patient safety, infection control, and many other areas. Zero goals are also gaining traction in environmental protection and sustainable development work. Terms such as zero waste, zero emissions, zero carbon, and zero poverty have become increasingly important in climate and environmental policies. Detractors claim that Vision Zero is too stringent and therefore also unrealistic. But practical experience has shown again and again that the Vision Zero approach can efficiently reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries. Of course, it is not enough to set up Vision Zero as a goal. Its effects materialize when it is systematically applied, and every serious accident is treated as a failure that must not be repeated. This handbook is the first comprehensive collection of knowledge and experience of Vision Zero. Its contributing authors are experts from all around the world, representing a wide range of academic disciplines and an equally wide range of specializations in practical safety management.
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| 19. |
- Blancke, Stefaan, et al.
(författare)
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Editorial : The Psychology of Pseudoscience
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-1078. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 20. |
- Boholm, Max, 1982-
(författare)
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Risk, language and discourse
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This doctoral thesis analyses the concept of risk and how it functions as an organizing principle of discourse, paying close attention to actual linguistic practice. Article 1 analyses the concepts of risk, safety and security and their relations based on corpus data (the Corpus of Contemporary American English). Lexical, grammatical and semantic contexts of the nouns risk, safety and security, and the adjectives risky, safe and secure are analysed and compared. Similarities and differences are observed, suggesting partial synonymy between safety (safe) and security (secure) and semantic opposition to risk (risky). The findings both support and contrast theoretical assumptions about these concepts in the literature. Article 2 analyses the concepts of risk and danger and their relation based on corpus data (in this case the British National Corpus). Frame semantics is used to explore the assumptions of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann (and others) that the risk concept presupposes decision-making, while the concept of danger does not. Findings partly support and partly contradict this assumption. Article 3 analyses how newspapers represent risk and causality. Two theories are used: media framing and the philosopher John Mackie’s account of causality. A central finding of the study is that risks are “framed” with respect to causality in several ways (e.g. one and the same type of risk can be presented as resulting from various causes). Furthermore, newspaper reporting on risk and causality vary in complexity. In some articles, risks are presented without causal explanations, while in other articles, risks are presented as results from complex causal conditions. Considering newspaper reporting on an aggregated overall level, complex schemas of causal explanations emerge. Article 4 analyses how phenomena referred to by the term nano (e.g. nanotechnology, nanoparticles and nanorobots) are represented as risks in Swedish newspaper reporting. Theoretically, the relational theory of risk and frame semantics are used. Five main groups of nano-risks are identified based on the risk object of the article: (I) nanotechnology; (II) nanotechnology and its artefacts (e.g. nanoparticles and nanomaterials); (III) nanoparticles, without referring to nanotechnology; (IV) non-nanotechnological nanoparticles (e.g. arising from traffic); and (V) nanotechnology and nanorobots. Various patterns are explored within each group, concerning, for example, what is considered to be at stake in relation to these risk objects, and under what conditions. It is concluded that Swedish patterns of newspaper reporting on nano-risks follow international trends, influenced by scientific assessment, as well as science fiction. Article 5 analyses the construction and negotiation of risk in the Swedish controversy over the use of antibacterial silver in health care and consumer products (e.g. sports clothes and equipment). The controversy involves several actors: print and television news media, Government and parliament, governmental agencies, municipalities, non-government organisations, and companies. In the controversy, antibacterial silver is claimed to be a risk object that negatively affects health, the environment, and sewage treatment industry (objects at risk). In contrast, such claims are denied. Antibacterial silver is even associated with the benefit of mitigating risk objects (e.g. bacteria and micro-organisms) that threaten health and the environment (objects at risk). In other words, both sides of the controversy invoke health and the environment as objects at risk. Three strategies organising risk communication are identified: (i) representation of silver as a risk to health and the environment; (ii) denial of such representations; and (iii) benefit association, where silver is construed to mitigate risks to health and the environment.
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| 21. |
- Boholm, Max, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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The Concepts of Risk, Safety, and Security : Applications in Everyday Language
- 2016
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Ingår i: Risk Analysis. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0272-4332 .- 1539-6924. ; 36:2, s. 320-338
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The concepts of risk, safety, and security have received substantial academic interest. Several assumptions exist about their nature and relation. Besides academic use, the words risk, safety, and security are frequent in ordinary language, for example, in media reporting. In this article, we analyze the concepts of risk, safety, and security, and their relation, based on empirical observation of their actual everyday use. The "behavioral profiles" of the nouns risk, safety, and security and the adjectives risky, safe, and secure are coded and compared regarding lexical and grammatical contexts. The main findings are: (1) the three nouns risk, safety, and security, and the two adjectives safe and secure, have widespread use in different senses, which will make any attempt to define them in a single unified manner extremely difficult; (2) the relationship between the central risk terms is complex and only partially confirms the distinctions commonly made between the terms in specialized terminology; (3) whereas most attempts to define risk in specialized terminology have taken the term to have a quantitative meaning, nonquantitative meanings dominate in everyday language, and numerical meanings are rare; and (4) the three adjectives safe, secure, and risky are frequently used in comparative form. This speaks against interpretations that would take them as absolute, all-or-nothing concepts.
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| 22. |
- Breitholtz, M., et al.
(författare)
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Ten challenges for improved ecotoxicological testing in environmental risk assessment
- 2006
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Ingår i: Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety. - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-6513 .- 1090-2414. ; 63:2, s. 324-335
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- New regulations, in particular the new European chemicals legislation (REACH), will increase the demands on environmental risk assessment (ERA). The requirements on efficient ecotoxicological testing systems are summarized, and 10 major issues for the improvement of ERA practices are discussed, namely: (1) the choice of representative test species, (2) the development of test systems that are relevant for ecosystems in different parts of the world, (3) the inclusion of sensitive life stages in test systems, (4) the inclusion of endpoints on genetic variation in populations, (5) using mechanistic understanding of toxic effects to develop more informative and efficient test systems, (6) studying disruption in invertebrate endocrine mechanisms, that may differ radically from those we know from vertebrates, (7) developing standardized methodologies for testing of poorly water-soluble substances, (8) taking ethical considerations into account, in particular by reducing the use of vertebrates in ecotoxico logical tests, (9) using a systematic (statistical) approach in combination with mechanistic knowledge to combine tests efficiently into testing systems, and (10) developing ERA so that it provides the information needed for precautionary decision-making.
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| 23. |
- Bubolz, Jéssica, et al.
(författare)
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Genetically modified (GM) late blight-resistant potato and consumer attitudes before and after a field visit
- 2022
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Ingår i: GM Crops and Food Biotechnology in Agriculture and the Food Chain. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2164-5698 .- 2164-5701. ; 13, s. 290-298
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is the most devastating disease in potato production. Here, we show full late blight resistance in a location with a genetically diverse pathogen population with the use of GM potato stacked with three resistance (R) genes over three seasons. In addition, using this field trials, we demonstrate that in-the-field intervention among consumers led to change for more favorable attitude generally toward GM crops.
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Carlsen, H., et al.
(författare)
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Assessing socially disruptive technological change
- 2010
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Ingår i: Technology in society. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-791X .- 1879-3274. ; 32:3, s. 209-218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The co-evolution of society and potentially disruptive technologies makes decision guidance on such technologies difficult. Four basic principles are proposed for such decision guidance. None of the currently available methods satisfies these principles, but some of them contain useful methodological elements that should be integrated in a more satisfactory methodology. The outlines of such a methodology, multiple expertise interaction, are proposed. It combines elements from several previous methodologies, including (1) interdisciplinary groups of experts that assess the potential internal development of a particular technology; (2) external scenarios describing how the surrounding world can develop in ways that are relevant for the technology in question; and (3) a participatory process of convergence seminars, which is tailored to ensure that several alternative future developments are taken seriously into account. In particular, we suggest further development of a bottom-up scenario methodology to capture the co-evolutionary character of socio-technical development paths.
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