Do policymakers and scientists have different understandings of “risk”? How can scientific uncertainty be pinned down and quantified? When experts disagree about the evidence, is there anything useful that the policymaker can take away from that disagreement?
Bart Koelmans discusses these questions with Toby Wardman of SAPEA. We also discuss the strength of the evidence for harm from microplastics, the limits of the natural sciences, and how an English speaker should pronounce ‘Wageningen’.
Resources mentioned in this episode
- WHO report on microplastics in drinking water: https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/microplastics-in-drinking-water/en/
- SAPEA report on microplastics pollution: https://www.sapea.info/topics/microplastics/