The Politics of Precaution examines the politics of consumer and
environmental risk regulation in the United States and Europe over the
last five decades, explaining why America and Europe have often
regulated a wide range of similar risks differently. It finds that
between 1960 and 1990, American health, safety, and environmental
regulations were more stringent, risk averse, comprehensive, and
innovative than those adopted in Europe. But since around 1990, the book
shows, global regulatory leadership has shifted to Europe. What explains
this striking reversal? David Vogel takes an in-depth, comparative look
at European and American policies toward a range of consumer and
environmental risks, including vehicle air pollution, ozone depletion,
climate change, beef and milk hormones, genetically modified
agriculture, antibiotics in animal feed, pesticides, cosmetic safety,
and hazardous substances in electronic products. He traces how concerns
over such risks--and pressure on
political leaders to do something about them--have risen among the
European public but declined among Americans. Vogel explores how
policymakers in Europe have grown supportive of more stringent
regulations while those in the United States have become sharply
polarized along partisan lines. And as European policymakers have grown
more willing to regulate risks on precautionary grounds, increasingly
skeptical American policymakers have called for higher levels of
scientific certainty before imposing additional regulatory controls on
business.
