The Ethics of Communicating Scientific Uncertainty

February 2015
Citation:
45
ELR 10105
Issue
2
Author
Jay Austin, George Gray, Jim Hilbert, and David Poulson

Scientific uncertainty is inevitable in many public policy debates, especially in the environmental and public health arena. Scientists, lawyers, and media professionals develop and communicate the data, information, and analysis that inform public decisionmaking. But each of these professions regards and communicates scientific uncertainty differently, in part due to varying professional norms and ethical standards. On September 12, 2014, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a webinar to examine how the fields of science, law, and journalism each address scientific uncertainty, and how core professional norms shape the way they communicate it. Here, we present a transcript of the event, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.

Jay Austin (moderator) is a Senior Attorney at ELI. George Gray is Professor at George Washington University’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Director of the Center for Risk Science and Public Health. Jim Hilbert is Professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN, and Co-Director of the Expert Witness Training Academy. David Poulson is Senior Associate Director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism  at Michigan State University.

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