Incorporating science, economics, and sociology in developing sanitary and phytosanitary standards in international trade : proceedings of a conference / Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, National Research Council.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

National Research Council (U.S.). Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Series:

Compass series (Washington, D.C.)

The compass series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (1995 January 1).

Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.

International trade--Environmental aspects--Congresses.

International trade.

Foreign trade regulation--Congresses.

Foreign trade regulation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (290 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, c2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The rapid expansion of international trade has brought to the fore issues of conflicting national regulations in the area of plant, animal, and human health. These problems include the concern that regulations designed to protect health can also be used for protection of domestic producers against international competition. At a time when progressive tariff reform has opened up markets and facilitated trade, in part responding to consumer demands for access to a wide choice of products and services at reasonable prices, closer scrutiny of regulatory measures has become increasingly important. At the same time, there are clear differences among countries and cultures as to the types of risk citizens are willing to accept. The activities of this conference were based on the premise that risk analyses (i.e., risk assessment, management, and communication) are not exclusively the domain of the biological and natural sciences; the social sciences play a prominent role in describing how people in different contexts perceive and respond to risks. Any effort to manage sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues in international trade must integrate all the sciences to develop practices for risk assessment, management, and communication that recognize international diversity in culture, experience, and institutions. Uniform international standards can help, but no such norms are likely to be acceptable to all countries. Political and administrative structures also differ, causing differences in approaches and outcomes even when basic aims are compatible. Clearly there is considerable room for confusion and mistrust. The issue is how to balance the individual regulatory needs and approaches of countries with the goal of promoting freer trade. This issue arises not only for SPS standards but also in regard to regulations that affect other areas such as environmental quality, working conditions, and the exercise of intellectual property rights. This conference focused on these issues in the specific area of SPS measures. This area includes provisions to protect plant and animal health and life and, more generally, the environment, and regulations that protect humans from foodborne risks. The Society for Risk Analysis defines a risk as the potential for realization of unwanted, adverse consequences to human life, health, property, or the environment; estimation of risk is usually based on the expected value of the conditional probability of the event occurring times the consequence of the event given that it has occurred. The task of this conference and of this report was to elucidate the place of science, culture, politics, and economics in the design and implementation of SPS measures and in their international management. The goal was to explore the critical roles and the limitations of the biological and natural sciences and the social sciences, such as economics, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and political science in the management of SPS issues and in judging whether particular SPS measures create unacceptable barriers to international trade. The conference's objective also was to consider the elements that would compose a multidisciplinary analytical framework for SPS decision making and needs for future research.

Contents:

""Incorporating Science, Economics, and Sociology in Developing Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards in International Trade""; ""Copyright""; ""Preface""; ""ACKNOWLEDGMENTS""; ""Contents""; ""Overview""; ""CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION""; ""CURRENT INSTITUTIONS FOR MANAGING SPS ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE""; ""Background""; ""Provisions of the SPS Agreement""; ""DISCUSSION OF ISSUES RELATED TO SPS MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE""; ""Broadening Cultural Perspectives for Systematic Risk Analysis""; ""Science: The Challenges of Risk Assessment""

""Economics: Measuring the Costs and Benefits of SPS Management Strategies""""Political Science: Establishing International Discipline While Preserving National Sovereignty""; ""SUMMARY""; ""Prospects for the Future""; ""1 Historical and Social Science Perspectives on the Role of Risk Assessment and Science in Protecting...""; ""HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON PROTECTIONISM""; ""A PERSPECTIVE ON RISK ASSESSMENT""; ""THE IMPORTANCE OF ADJUSTMENT POLICIES""; ""CONCLUSIONS""; ""REFERENCES""; ""Part I Agricultural Trade, Risk Assessment, and the Role of Culturein Risk Management""

""2 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Risk Management in the Post-Uruguay Round Era: An Economic Perspective """"THE SPS AGREEMENT: ORIGIN AND PRINCIPAL PROVISIONS""; ""Origin of the SPS Agreement""; ""Principal Provisions of the SPS Agreement""; ""COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF SPS REGULATIONS""; ""IS THE SPS AGREEMENT CONGRUENT WITH EXECUTIVE BRANCH GUIDELINES?""; ""Costs""; ""Benefits""; ""Distributional Issues""; ""CONCLUSIONS""; ""REFERENCES""; ""3 An Overview of Risk Assessment ""; ""RISK AND TRADE BARRIERS""; ""WHAT IS RISK ASSESSMENT?""; ""Hazard Identification""; ""Dose-Response Assessment""

""SELECTING TOXICOLOGICAL ENDPOINTS: WHAT DO WE EVALUATE?""""Exposure Assessment""; ""Risk Characterization� What Are the Consequences? Is There a Problem?""; ""DETERMINISTIC RISK ASSESSMENT""; ""PROBABILISTIC RISK ASSESSMENT""; ""PROTECTING HUMANS, PLANTS, AND WILDLIFE""; ""Human Health� Pesticide Residues in Food""; ""How Safe Is Our Food Supply in Terms of Pesticide Residues?""; ""Plants, Domestic Animals, and Wildlife""; ""Introduction of Exotic Species""; ""RISK ASSESSMENT OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ORGANISMS""; ""HOW CAN WE BE FOOLED? UNPROVABLE RISKS""

""FUTURE PROBLEMS-SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENTS ABOUT RISK ASSESSMENT""""Individual versus Population-Level Effects""; ""Population Structure and Susceptibility""; ""CONCLUSIONS""; ""REFERENCES""; ""4 Technological Risk and Cultures of Rationality ""; ""DIMENSIONS OF CROSS-NATIONAL VARIANCE""; ""Framing""; ""Styles of Regulation""; ""Acceptable Evidence""; ""Forms of Expertise""; ""Nature of Regulatory Standards""; ""VARIETIES OF CULTURAL EXPLANATION""; ""The Role of Political Structure""; ""The Functionalist Approach""; ""Interpretive Approaches""; ""CONCLUSIONS""; ""REFERENCES""

""Part II Political and Ecological Economy""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Contains:

Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (1995 January 1).

ISBN:

0-309-18352-9

1-280-24667-7

9786610246670

0-309-59415-4

0-585-28597-7

OCLC:

923263589