
Calculating Risks?
The Spatial and Political Dimensions of Hazardous Waste Policy
MIT Press
Published on 18. August 1999
Book
Paperback/Softback
342 pages
978-0-262-52869-6 (ISBN)
Description
Hazardous wastes often head the public's list of environmental concerns. Exaggerated estimates of cancer epidemics arising from waste sites generate a sense of alarm, but little is known about the real extent of the health threats. In this book James T. Hamilton and W. Kip Viscusi present the first comprehensive analysis of the magnitude of hazardous waste risks and of the efficacy of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program.By matching agency decision data to detailed census information using geographic information systems (GIS) technology, the authors show that most hazardous waste sites do not pose sufficient risk to merit the most stringent cleanup options. Those sites that do pose considerable risk to exposed populations often receive inadequate attention, because government decisions to target cleanups are based more on political factors than on actual risks. The authors propose policy reforms that could significantly reduce cleanup costs without sacrificing the protection of human health. Beyond its analysis of a particular risk policy, the book serves as a general model for comprehensive risk analysis.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-262-52869-6 (9780262528696)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

James T. Hamilton | W. Kip Viscusi
Calculating Risks?
The Spatial and Political Dimensions of Hazardous Waste Policy
Book
08/1999
MIT Press
€9.85
Article exhausted; check different version
Persons
Author
Hearst Professor of CommunicationStanford University
University Distinguished Professor