000			01377pab a2200157 454500
008			180718b1999 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aTesh, Sylvia N.
245			_aCitizen experts in environmental risk
260			_c1999
300			_ap.39-58
362			_aMar
520			_aIn the last two decades, public administrators have increasingly faced groups of people with opposing views about the risks of exposure to environmental contaminants. Because of a series of intriguing studies on risk perception, the situation is frequently seen, by scholars and administrators alike, as a conflict between experts and citizens, and risk communication guidelines are based on this interpretation. But the citizen-expert dichotomy appears fallacious when it is examined in light of the ways citizens actually participate in environmental policy making. The dichotomy overlooks the fact that citizens express their perception of risk largely through organized citizen groups, and that these groups employ and have access to many experts. This essay uses a mainstream environmental group and a number of grassroots environmental groups to illustrate the point. It concludes that the more important conflict is between experts who find environmental pollution safe and those who find it hazardous. - Reproduced
650			_aPollution
773			_aPolicy Sciences
909			_a41415
999			_c41415 _d41415