Essay Instructions: This assignment puts you in the position of a practicing policy analyst again. Your objective is to explore how forms of analysis inform and affect solutions to an environmental problem.
This assignment asks you to write a memo that does the following:
? Explains principles of risk, life-cycle, and cost-benefit assessments, with a focus on how they help determine the amount of environmental protection that should be permitted or required; and
? Explores how alternatives assessment?s politically engaged and inclusive approach to solutions development can change the range of solutions considered.
You will achieve this objective by working with the below case on food safety policy, a complex and politically interesting topic.
Case Overview
Food safety has many dimensions. Our focus is on the use of industrial chemicals in food production. There are a wide range of chemicals used directly in food production. For example, fertilizers are added to soil to aid plant growth; flavorings are used to enhance food appeal; and
stabilizers are used to give processed foods structure. All of these additives are industrial
chemicals. We are going to narrow our focus to the set of industrial chemicals called pesticides. The term ?pesticide? refers to a very large number of industrial chemicals used to ward off weeds, fungus, insects, and rodents. These industrial chemicals were developed for agriculture to assure a larger and more predictable food supply.
A primary issue of concern with pesticides is the spillover of human and ecological health effects. Pesticides work by biochemically disrupting the neurological and reproductive capabilities of organisms. Although pesticides are developed to target a specific population of weeds, fungus, insects, and rodents, spray application methods and predation (i.e., eating the exposed organism) exposes other species, including humans, to them too. Humans are exposed to pesticides
present as residues on food and through air-, water-, or soil-borne exposure if the people live or work in close proximity to fields where pesticides are used. (Keep in mind that pesticides may be used in recreational or residential areas, but in this case we are interested in the environmental problems related to food production.)
Policy Controversy
The current law governing pesticide safety, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996, authorizes the U.S. EPA to conduct a comprehensive analysis of pesticide consumption risk, particularly for children. Combining analysis on multiple health endpoints ? e.g., carcinogenicity
(cancer risk), endocrine disruption (hormone problems), and reproductive and developmental
disorders ? EPA is tasked with determining safe levels of pesticide exposure. This assessment of risk means examining the potential harm of each chemical and the routes of exposure for people, and its objective is to establish a rational, scientific basis for regulation for pesticide usage. The idea is that these analyses will help determine how and how much a chemical can be used ? a result that could lead to banning chemicals (e.g., if there is no safe limit) or restricting their usage to lower levels.
However, since the FQPA was passed, EPA has only regulated two additional chemicals out of the 10,000 pesticides it has been charged with reviewing. Contentious fights over technical analyses of safe levels of chemicals have erupted and stalled progress.
Directions for Your Policy Memo
Write a 6-8 page memo offering assessment guidance for food safety policy. In your memo, provide a solid description of these techniques and the kinds of insights that they provide. Your memo should culminate in a recommendation based on this question:
? Should food protection policy place more emphasis on technical assessment of ?safe? levels, or should establishing ?safe food? standards place more emphasis on alternatives assessment?
The memo should be divided into three sections (see below) and answer the questions as follows.
Section 1: Impact Assessment (aka Technical Assessment)
This focus on safe limits is a prime example of rational threshold-setting and trade-off analysis. (How much pesticide is safe, and how much can/will we afford?) As a policy approach, it places emphasis on technical assessments to regulate food safety.
In Section 1 of your memo:
? Explain how a probabilistic assessment, a life-cycle assessment, and a cost-benefit assessment would assess the ?safe level? of pesticide that could be used. As part of your description and discussion, offer an example solution for each type of assessment. (Hint: washing part of the residues off produce is one example.) Your discussion should focus on the logic and process of carrying out the assessment, but you are free to provide computational examples.
? Conclude this section by explaining the limitations of this approach, particularly for people who cannot avoid foods produced with pesticides or who live or work in close proximity to pesticide applications. (Note: as part of your discussion, you may summarize criticisms of technical assessment methods from your readings or from class lecture notes.)
Section 2: Impact Assessment (aka Alternatives Assessment)
Technical analysis often attenuates the range of apparent solutions. They are based on a particular perspective on a problem, such as the notion that pesticides are risky but necessary for the large-scale, chemically-intensive industrial farming used in the United States. If stakeholders do not agree with a characterization of a problem (e.g., we need to determine safe levels of pesticides), they may never agree with the proposed solutions (e.g., the proposed safe level).
In Section 2 of your memo:
? Explain what alternatives assessment is and why it might lead to radically different solutions to the pesticide problem. In your answer offer an example. (Hint: these could involve radically different approaches to agriculture.) Using your own deduction or research on the Internet, pick and discuss at least one.
? Explain why a narrow focus around threshold-setting among the ?business as usual? crowd (i.e., long-term bureaucrats and entrenched business interests) might fail to identify and adequately contemplate this option. Then suggest someone whose
perspective would be more likely to inspire generation of these options. That is, are there excluded stakeholders who should be creatively engaged beyond the ?business as usual?
crowd?
Section 3: Recommendation and Implications for Assessment
Examining differences in assessment helps reveal two challenges in policy formulation. The first is developing appropriate comprehensive yet coherent solutions to environmental problems. The
second is creating a democratic process that facilitates multi-stakeholder input.
In Section 3 of your memo:
? Make a recommendation consistent with your discussion. Should food protection policy place more emphasis on technical assessment of ?safe? levels, or should establishing ?safe food? standards place more emphasis on alternatives assessment?
In addition to fulfilling the specifics of the assignment, a successful memo must also meet the following criteria:
o Length of the memo should be 6-8 pages, excluding cover page and references.
o Viewpoint and purpose should be clearly established and sustained.
o Assignment should follow the conventions of Standard American English
(correct grammar, punctuation, etc.).
o Writing should be well ordered, logical, and unified, as well as original and
insightful.
o Your work should display superior content, organization, style, and
mechanics.
o Appropriate citation style should be followed.
? Food Quality Protection Act
? Criticisms of Pesticides and discussion of alternatives
? Statements in Favor of Pesticides:
o Why are pesticides still needed in today?s agriculture?
o Pesticides: Necessary but dangerous poisons
