title: It's not science. what can science do about it?
abstract: Scholars describe science as one variety of organized human knowledge, characterized by its process that requires testing of theories in attempts to falsify them. Its products are descriptions and theories about the physical world that have withstood attempts at falsification. While some of these products will eventually have practical applications, all are initially interesting to other scientists. Other scientists use the products that are considered useful and that stand up to additional testing in their own research, they reject the products that do not survive testing, and they ignore most of them. Risk analyses produce informed predictions about the future likelihood that loss or injury will occur as a consequence of present actions. They are delivered not to scientists but to policymakers who, having invested in the analysis, want to use them in their work. Only rarely, and perhaps never, are the predictions testable, and they are accepted or rejected on other grounds. These contentions are the bases for a review of risk assessments about dioxin and low-level radiation exposures and some speculations about coming changes in risk assessment.
authors.affiliation: Office of Technology Assessment, United States Congress, Washington, DC 20510, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gough
mesh_terms: D004147:Dioxins / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D011830:Radiation Effects; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012586:Science
chemical_list: D004147:Dioxins