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Hormesis: public health policy, organizational safety and risk communication

Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, 61, avenue du Président Wilson, 94230 Cachan, France

Thirty years of research suggests low doses of toxic substances may have positive health effects. If confirmed, hormesis will imply radical changes in risk assessment and management of existing industrial toxic sources (chemical and nuclear). Renn analyses risk communication issues and positions hormesis–largely unknown to the public today–as a hypothetical risk object in society. Our comments stress the necessity to consider hormesis first as a public health issue (versus an industrial regulatory issue), to consider the impact of managerial changes upon organizational safety culture, and to assess effects on public health from the ‘bad news’ of toxic exposure.

Key Words: hormesis • low dose • psychological effects • public health • risk communication • safety culture

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 22, No. 1, 39-41 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/0960327103ht318oa


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