GIGO

Public Forums for Science Issues

I was intrigued to see a suggestion recently to make science more interesting and understandable to the public by holding public debates on topical or contentious issues. There are many such issues which could provide good grist to the mill. How effective has the RCD release been in killing rabbits? What, if anything, will happen to our children or prize bulls if a cellphone tower goes up nearby? How safe are our blood products, our foods, the many and varied technologies which we use? Most media cannot or will not devote the necessary time and space to discuss the complexities involved in such issues.

These sorts of questions were discussed at a recent conference on Risk Assessment: Perceptions and Science, organised by the New Zealand Association of Scientists. It proved to be a very interesting day, with presentations on a whole range of issues from the problems of evaluating and managing risk through to the consequences of what happens when we get that management wrong.

While the term "stakeholders" (read you and me, the public) cropped up in virtually every presentation, there was virtually no input from anyone from a stakeholder point of view, and a quick glance through the attendee list showed that the vast majority were from universities, CRIs or government departments. The most compelling presentation of the day was from John Dagger of the Wellington Blood Transfusion Unit. He talked of his experience in recalling blood products thought to be contaminated with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, and went on to discuss how this affected him personally as the father of a blood product-dependent haemophiliac son. Humanity (in both senses) made a brief but welcome appearance.

Any one of the five case studies presented would have made an excellent starting platform -- and drawcard -- for involving the greater public in the discussion.

I sincerely hope that the idea of bringing such issues and information into public forums is supported. After all, in these days of consensus and public consultation, we all have a stake in learning more about and deciding on issues that affect us locally and nationally.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.