Regulating New Technologies and Uncertain Risks

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor: to be confirmed
• Assessment: a 4000-word essay (100%)

This module will give you a unique opportunity to explore the cutting-edge field of risk regulation, at the crossroads of law, politics and science. We will focus on the challenge of regulating uncertain risks to public health and the environment, taking a close look at regulatory areas such as biotechnologies, nanotechnologies, chemicals and pesticides. Furthermore, we will cut across legal systems and analyse different bodies of case law, providing you with an in-depth overview of different scientific and regulatory approaches to the governance of risk.

Shall uncertain risks be run as long as they have not been scientifically proved and established? How is the precautionary principle implemented in practice? How to balance technical expertise, public perception of risk, political sovereignty and democratic legitimacy? How is the transnational neo-liberal agenda impacting on consumer and environmental protection standards, and is it triggering a race to the bottom? What role is being played by experts and market actors, at times of globalisation? Ultimately, what are the socio-economic implications of different models of risk regulation?

These are some of the questions that you will critically assess throughout this module.

Indicative syllabus

• Risk regulation: an introduction
• GMOs I (food and feed)
• GMOs II (cultivation of GM crops)
• Nanotechnologies
• The regulation of chemicals
• The regulation of pesticides
• Judicial review of EU risk regulation: towards a substantive review of ‘sound’ science?
• WTO law and risk regulation
• Food sovereignty, food safety, food quality
• Regulating uncertain risks: towards a new paradigm

By the end of this module, you will:

• have an in-depth knowledge of the cutting-edge field of risk regulation
• understand the content and implications of the relevant regulatory frameworks
• be able to analyse and understand case law on risk regulation
• have enhanced legal research and problem analysis skills
• have a critical understanding of different approaches to the governance of uncertain public health and environmental risks.