ABSTRACT
Recent newspaper headlines refl ect a high level of public concern about a range of scientifi c and environmental issues, such as BSE, GM crops, HIVAIDS and global climate change. Controversy and uncertainty over such issues can contribute to what are known in the discourse of risk as ‘soft disasters’, that is, ‘environmental and political crises that emerge Only slowly but at high cost to society ’ (ESRC Global Environmental Change Programme, 2000: 3). Soft disasters can include the loss of public trust and confi dence in industry, scientists and decision-makers.
