title: Risk, Uncertainty and Precaution in Science: The Threshold of the Toxicological Concern Approach in Food Toxicology.
abstract: Environmental risk assessment is often affected by severe uncertainty. The frequently invoked precautionary principle helps to guide risk assessment and decision-making in the face of scientific uncertainty. In many contexts, however, uncertainties play a role not only in the application of scientific models but also in their development. Building on recent literature in the philosophy of science, this paper argues that precaution should be exercised at the stage when tools for risk assessment are developed as well as when they are used to inform decision-making. The relevance and consequences of this claim are discussed in the context of the threshold of the toxicological concern approach in food toxicology. I conclude that the approach does not meet the standards of an epistemic version of the precautionary principle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Clausiusstrasse 49, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland. bschir@phil.gess.ethz.ch.
authors.forename: Karim
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5368-5638
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bschir
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics*; D005524:Food Technology / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D010684:Philosophy; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012586:Science / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards*; D014116:Toxicology / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards*; D035501:Uncertainty
keywords: Environmental decision-making; Precautionary principle; Threshold of toxicological concern; Tuxedo Fallacy; Uncertainty