Regulating Innovation, Trade and Uncertain Risks

Although it is not often acknowledged in the risk literature, risk regulation is part of the trade sphere. More often than not risk regulation concerns products traded around the globe such as food, ¹ food and feed additives, ² genetically modified organisms (GMOs), ³ pharmaceuticals, ⁴ children’s products ⁵ and chemicals. ⁶ Due to globalisation, the international flows of goods have only increased. Do (or might) these traded, often innovative, products pose risks to humans or the environment? And if so, what measures, which may imply trade restrictions, are adequate to deal with these (uncertain) risks? These questions evoke the regulatory activities usually referred to as risk regulation: governmental interference with market and/or other societal processes to control or anticipate potential adverse consequences to safety and health of humans and the environment (compare Kim et al., in this volume, with reference to Hood et al. 2001). Furthermore, many trade conflicts, especially those brought to the World Trade Organization (WTO), are rooted in, or at least associated with, risk concerns. Thus, trade and risk are interrelated in societal and regulatory discourses and decision making.