Research Catalog

Setting the limit : occupational health standards and the limits of science

Title: Setting the limit : occupational health standards and the limits of science / Sven Ove Hansson.
Author: Hansson, Sven Ove, 1951-
Publication: New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Book/Text	Use in library	RA1229.5 .H36 1998	Off-site

Description

ix, 166 p. : ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

Occupational exposure limits exemplify the practical application of moral values in medical science. But are they really effective in protecting workers from chemical hazards? In order to answer this question on the basis of sound empirical evidence, this book presents an unusually detailed and comprehensive analysis of three lists of exposure limits from the United States, Germany and Sweden.
Hansson analyzes the nature of toxicological knowledge and discusses how the standards of proof required in a regulatory context differ from those appropriate in pure science. In his view, decision-makers must deal not only with the known risks but also with the uncertainties that arise as a consequence of the incompleteness of toxicological information. With this in mind, he proposes new ways to organize exposure limits and to evaluate toxicological data for regulatory purposes.
Setting the Limit is a thorough, detailed study of the application of ethical principles in an important area of public health practice. It is intended for occupational health professionals and risk analysts, as well as philosophers and sociologists of science.

Subjects

Bibliography (note)

Contents

1. Regulating the Unknown. Clinical medicine and the science of health. Science and occupational health. Two types of error. Epistemic asymmetry. Exposure limits -- 2. The Most Influential Values. The ACGIH and its TLVs. Health-based, realistic, or both? Harmful effects below the TLVs. The use of corporate information. Unorthodox toxicology -- 3. Purely Health-based Values? In what sense health-based? Irritation and worse. The protection of subpopulations. Protecting the unborn. Margins of safety and unsafety. Human effect levels. Animal no-effect levels. Animal effect levels. On not learning from experience. Standards of evidence. Questionable reporting -- 4. The Lowest Values. The development of Swedish exposure limits. The impact of consensus reports. Critical effects. Irritation effects. Respiratory diseases. Effects on the nervous system. Other nonmalignant critical effects. Cancer. The quality of no-effect levels -- 5. Setting Better Standards.
An impossible task? Health-based exposure limits. Levels of aggregation. A residual exposure limit. Interpretative conservativity. Statistical evaluations. The role of science in standard setting. App. How to Compare Exposure Limits.

ISBN

0195121600 (acid-free paper)

LCCN

97034725

OCLC

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries