Beyond Technocracy: New Routes for Citizen Involvement in Social Risk Assessment

Over the past decade and a half, several pieces of Federal legislation established an initial framework for improving public access to information and public input into Federal regulatory policy. Of special significance in this regard are the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA] (1969), the Freedom of Information Act (1974), amendments to the Administrative Procedure Act (1966), and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (1972). NEPA requires that governmental agencies avail themselves of commentary from various sectors of society on their policies before final decisions are made. The Freedom of Information Act and the Executive Department’s requirements for &dquo;government in the sunshine&dquo; have made further contributions to an open process of decisionmaking, where the evidence, justification and procedural issues are available for public review. The Administrative Procedure Act requires that the opinions, policy statements, rules, and procedures of Federal agencies be a matter of public record. Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the deliberations and reports of Federal advisory committees are open to public review.