The Fifth Branch

Science Advisers as Policymakers

Sheila Jasanoff

    1. Rationalizing Politics

    The Rise of Social Regulation

    Science and Policymaking

    Expertise and Trust

    The Contingency of Knowledge

    The Reform Debate

    An Alternative Approach

    2. Flawed Decisions

    Nitrites

    2,4,5-T

    Love Canal

    Estimates of Occupational Cancer

    The Technocratic Response

    A Critical Counterpoint

    3. Science for the People

    The Rationale for Public Science

    The "New" Expert Agency

    Scientific Advice and Open Government

    Judicial Review of Science Policy

    The Weakening of the Paradigm

    4. Peer Review and Regulatory Science

    The Traditions of Peer Review

    Peer Review in Practice

    Instructive Failures Regulatory Science: Content and Context

    Implications for Regulatory Peer Review

    5. EPA and the Science Advisory Board

    Early Political Challenges

    A New Cooperation Boundary Exercises

    SAB's Impact on Policy

    Conclusion

    6. The Science and Policy of Clean Air

    CASAC and the NAAQS Process

    Science and Standards

    Redefining CASAC's Role

    The Carbon Monoxide Controversy

    CASAC's Effectiveness: Bridging Science and Policy

    7. Advisers as Adversaries

    The Scientific Advisory Panel

    Implementing the Impossible

    Ethylene Dibromide

    Dicofol

    Alar

    A Fragmentation of Authority

    8. FDA's Advisory Network

    The Scientific Evaluation of Drugs

    Expertise and Food Safety

    Advice and Decision

    9. Coping with New Knowledge

    The Quest for Principled Risk Assessment

    Formaldehyde: An Uncertain Carcinogen

    Conclusion

    10. Technocracy Revisited

    A Public-Private Partnership for Science

    Risk Assessment without Politics

    The Public Board of Inquiry

    Wider Applications

    11. The Political Function of Good Science

    From Advice to Policy

    Acceptable Risk

    Scientific Advice as Legitimation: Negotiation and Boundary Work

    Defining "Good Science"

    Normative Implications

    Conclusion

    Notes

    Index

  • Cover: The Fifth Branch
  • A photo of the author

Sheila Jasanoff is Professor of Science and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government and the School of Public Health, Harvard University.