The Reality of Precaution: Comparing Risk Regulation in the United States and Europe

"The Reality of Precaution offers a sweeping and rigorous look at risk regulation---a must-read for anyone who wants to think seriously about risk management choices."Daniel C. Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University, and co-author, Green to Gold

"An outstanding contribution of original scholarship that dispels many conventional wisdoms about U.S. and European risk regulation." John D. Graham, Dean, Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and former Administrator, U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

"A fresh and much-needed contribution to the debate over the precautionary principle across the Atlantic and beyond." Alberto Alemanno, Associate Professor of Law, HEC Paris, and editor of the European Journal of Risk Regulation

"This seminal book assembles a stellar cast to address the critical and at times perplexing question: which is more precautionary---Europe or the United States? It is a must-read for anyone interested in getting a greater grasp of the wider EU and U.S. policy environments." Ragnar Lofstedt, Professor of Risk Management, King's College London, and editor of the Journal of Risk Research

The "Precautionary Principle" has sparked the central controversy over European and U.S. risk regulation. The Reality of Precaution is the most comprehensive study to go beyond precaution as an abstract principle and test its reality in practice. This groundbreaking resource combines detailed case studies of a wide array of risks to health, safety, environment, and security; a broad quantitative analysis,- and cross-cutting chapters on politics, law, and perceptions. The authors rebut the rhetoric of conflicting European and American approaches to risk, and show that the reality has been the selective application of precaution to particular risks on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as a constructive exchange of policy ideas toward "better regulation." The book offers a new view of precaution, regulatory reform, comparative analysis, and transatlantic relations.

Jonathan B. Wiener is Perkins Professor of Law, Environmental Policy, and Public Policy at Duke University, and a University Fellow at RFF.
Michael D. Rogers is sin independent consultant on risk, science, and ethics, and a former member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers reporting to the President of the European Commission.
James K. Hamuli it is Professor of Economics and Decision Sciences at Harvard University, and at the Toulouse School of Economics.
Peter H. Sand is Lecturer in International Environmental Law at the University of Munich.