This book examines the policy and politics of two health risks, which have recently become prominent social issues in many countries. One is the issue of asbestos as an environmental risk to humans, and another is that of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease as an animal disease, and of its variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) as a human food risk. Employing a set of analytical frameworks in political science, each case study explores how the issues emerged, agendas got set, alternatives were chosen, and policies were implemented. Through the analysis, it is examined how safety and public reassurance were pursued in the countries studied (Japan, the UK, France the USA, and Korea).

Ten cases on health risk management are presented

The Policies and Politics of Health Risk Management.- Management of environmental risk: Cases of asbestos.- Development of Asbestos Regulation in Japan: Incremental Policy Making and Crisis Politics.- Emergence of Asbestos-related Health Issues and Development of Regulatory Policy in the UK.- Development of Asbestos Regulation in France: Policy Making Under Uncertainty and Precautionary Principle.- Asbestos in the United States.- Risk Perception and Management of the Asbestos Industry in Korea: Rise and Fall of the Industry and Health Issues.- Management of food risk: Cases of BSE-related human risk management.- Policy and Politics of BSE-related Human Disease Prevention in Japan: In Pursuit of Food Safety and Public Reassurance.- BSE in the United Kingdom.- Governing Uncertain Threats: Lessons from the Mad Cow Saga in France.- Policy and Politics of BSE in the United States.- Conclusions.- Conclusions: Policies, Politics, and Communications of Health Risks: In Search of Safety and Public Reassurance.