Health, hazards and public debate: lessons for risk communication from the BSE/CJD saga

Abstract

Communicating about health hazards is a central function of every public health institution. The BSE (‎bovine spongiform encephalopathy)‎ crisis highlighted the problems that emerge when communication is treated as a one-way street, in which information about health risks is channelled to the public after critical policy decisions have already been made. This book is the product of research into risk communication aspects of the BSE saga. It offers new insights into how actors in policy, science and mass media communicated about BSE and CJD (‎Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease)‎ between 1985 and 2000 in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Finland, and the European Union. The book presents a framework for integrating risk communication into all stages of policy-making, serving as a tool to support effective communication strategies that take public opinion into account.