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Responsive and responsible approach to environmental policy making

December 1997

Authors:

The following remarks are excerpted from a speech delivered by Dr. Healy in 1996 at a seminar in Columbus, Ohio, focusing on that city's creative approach to environmental policy making. The seminar, `Environmental Direction in the Future: Cooperation, Not Confrontation,' was sponsored by The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), chaired by Garrey Carruthers, former Governor of New Mexico. Here, Dr. Healy discusses paths and barriers to sound policy-making based on scientific knowledge, sensitivity to common sense and economics, a respect for the public's views, the need for consumer education, and how the concept of uncertainty fits into the risk/benefit assessment process.

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