Radiation Protection—Sorting Out the Arguments

Hansson, Sven Ove

doi:10.1007/s13347-011-0036-5

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Another example of the same type of conflict is the weighing of the risks (side effects) of a medical treatment against the risks of refraining from the treatment. For instance, it is not uncommon for treatments of cancer to incur a risk of treatment-induced ("secondary") cancer [57]. Obviously, a treatment decision will have to be based on some sort of weighing of the risks of side effects against those of refraining from treatment.…”

Section: The First Problem: Competing Top Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Extreme Is the Precautionary Principle?

Hansson

2020

Nanoethics

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The precautionary principle has often been described as an extreme principle that neglects science and stifles innovation. However, such an interpretation has no support in the official definitions of the principle that have been adopted by the European Union and by the signatories of international treaties on environmental protection. In these documents, the precautionary principle is a guideline specifying how to deal with certain types of scientific uncertainty. In this contribution, this approach to the precautionary principle is explicated with the help of concepts from the philosophy of science and comparisons with general notions of practical rationality. Three major problems in its application are discussed, and it is concluded that to serve its purpose, the precautionary principle has to (1) be combined with other decision principles in cases with competing top priorities, (2) be based on the current state of science, which requires procedures for scientific updates, and (3) exclude potential dangers whose plausibility is too low to trigger meaningful precautionary action.

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Section: The First Problem: Competing Top Prioritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Extreme Is the Precautionary Principle?

Hansson

2020

Nanoethics

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“…For example, in the treatment of life-threatening conditions, risks are sometimes taken that would have been unthinkable in the treatment of a less severe disease. In order to cure a cancer, patients have sometimes been exposed to radiation doses that give rise to a risk as high as about 25% of inducing a new cancer (p. 366 in [46]). This would of course have been out of the question if some other efficient therapy were available that had a lower risk of secondary cancer.…”

Section: Weighing Risks and Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Science-Informed Ethics for Agricultural Biotechnology

2019

Crop Breed Genet Genom.

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This overview of ethical issues in plant breeding and agricultural biotechnology puts emphasis on the scientific consensus as the basis for ethical studies and discussions. An introduction is given to major ethical issues in plant breeding, including the selection of socially important breeding goals such as environmental and nutritional improvements, the measures needed to ensure that sufficient priority is given to such breeding goals, potential risks and how they should be weighed against benefits, the interpretation of the precautionary principle, intellectual property rights, and the construction of a labelling system for biotechnological products. Some of the common arguments against agricultural biotechnology are also discussed, among them arguments referring to negative effects of yield increases, the dominance of big companies, and the alleged unnaturalness of biotechnology.

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“…The natural background is the sum of exposures that originate from natural sources (e.g., radiation from the sun, cosmic radiation, and radiation from naturally occurring radioactive material in the ground). A general problem with the idea of using the natural background as a basis for standards is the observation that we cannot directly draw conclusions about how things ought to be based solely on information about how things in fact are . For example, using the natural background as a basis does not, in itself, give any guidance why one specific number should be used instead of another .…”

Section: The Basic Principles Of Radiation Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiation protection issues related to the use of nuclear power

Wikman–Svahn

2012

WIREs Energy & Environment

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Nuclear power generation require protection against harmful effects of ionizing radiation. Radiation protection is based on the linear, no-threshold model of health risks at low doses and three fundamental principles: justification, optimization, and limitation. The practical application of radiation protection is divided into three areas: planned, emergency, and existing exposure situations. Planned exposure situations include difficult social issues related to the exposure of large populations, exposure of future generations, protection against accidents, and protection of the environment. Emergency and existing exposure situations are both characterized by heterogeneous distributions of exposures and complex social and economic aspects, which make assessment and evaluation of protective strategies complicated and value laden. Four problem areas of social and ethical issues stand out as central for radiation protection: The first is uncertainty and the influence of value judgments in scientific risk assessments. The second is distributions of risks and benefits between different individuals, both in space and time. The third is the problem of setting limits when there is no known level of exposure that is associated with a zero risk. The fourth central problem area is related to stakeholder influence and risk communication.

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Radiation Protection—Sorting Out the Arguments

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

How Extreme Is the Precautionary Principle?

How Extreme Is the Precautionary Principle?

A Science-Informed Ethics for Agricultural Biotechnology

Radiation protection issues related to the use of nuclear power

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