'A comprehensive and important collection that includes essays by some of the leading figures in the field. ...Essential reading for anyone interested in risk assessment.'Professor Kristin Shrader-Frechette, University of Notre Dame'The editors are to be congratulated for bringing together a distinguished international group of theorists to reflect on the issues. This volume will be sure to raise the level of debate while at the same time showing the importance of philosophical reflection in approaches to the problems of the age.' Professor Jonathan Wolff, University College LondonThis volume brings together top authors from the fields of risk, philosophy, social sciences and psychology to address the issue of how we should decide how far technological risks are morally acceptable or not. The underlying principles are examined, along with methodological challenges, public involvement and instruments for democratization. A strong theoretical basis is complemented by a range of case studies from some of the most contentious areas, including medical ethics and GM crops. This book is a vital new resource for researchers, students and anyone concerned that traditional approaches to risk management don't adequately address ethical considerations.

ForewordYvo de BoerAcknowledgementsPart I: Introduction1. The Ethics of Technological Risk: Introduction and Overview2. An Agenda for the Ethics of RiskPart II: Principles and Guidelines3. A Plea for a Rich Conception of Risks4. Requirements for the Social Acceptability of Risk Generating Technological Activities5. Clinical Equipoise and the Assessment of Acceptable Therapeutic Risk6. Acceptable Risk to Future Generations7. The Ethical Assessment of Unpredictable Risks in the Use of Genetically Engineered Livestock for Biomedical ResearchPart III: Methodological Considerations8. Ethics, Reasons, and Risk Analysis9. Incommensurability: The Failure to Compare Risks10. Welfare Judgments and RiskPart IV: Involving the Public11. Risk As Feeling: Some Thoughts about Affect, Reason, Risk and Rationality12. The Relation between Cognition and Affect in Moral Judgments about Risks13. Risk and Public Imagination: Mediated Risk Perception as Imaginative Moral Judgment14. Trust and Criteria for Proof of Risk: The Case of Mobile Phone Technology in the NetherlandsPart V: Instruments for Democratization15. Risk-Management through National Ethics Councils?16. Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers in Design Processes: Risks, Regulative Frameworks and Societal Division of LabourPart VI: Conclusion17. Governing Technological RisksAcronyms and AbbreviationsReferencesIndex