The Political Economy of Risk Communication Policies for Food and Alcoholic Beverages

The 1980s have witnessed the emergence of hazard warning policies as a major component in efforts to promote product safety and job safety. Government agencies have launched sweeping efforts to label all carcinogenic risks in the workplace as well as to promote labeling for a wide variety of consumer products. In an extreme case, the state of California has promulgated regulations that hazard warnings be given for all significant exposures to carcinogens and reproductive toxicants generated by exposures to food, environmental conditions, and conditions at the workplace. Whereas the regulatory efforts of the 1970s focused primarily on technological solutions and engineering controls to safety problems, in the 1980s there has been a dramatic shift toward the increased use of warnings. The objective has been to augment technological controls with precautionary behavior on the part of the individuals exposed to the risks.