Public confidence

Prevent possible loss of public confidence as a result of manufacturing the product(s). 

After many years of improvements in technical safety methods and process design, many orgaruzations have found that accident rates, process plant losses and profitability have reached a plateau beyond which further improvements seem impossible to achieve. Another finding is that even in orgarriza-tions with good general safety records, occasional large scale disasters occur which shake public confidence in the chemical process industry. The common... 

Public confidence in the safely of vaccines and immunization procedures is essential if compliance is to match the needs the community. In this respect public concern and anxiety, in the mid 1970s, over the peroeived safety of pertussis vaccine led to a reduction in coverage of the target group from ca. 80% to ca. 30%. Major epidemics of whooping-cough, with over 100000 notified cases, followed in 1977/1979 and 1981/83. By 1992, public confidence had returned, coverage had increased to 92% and there were only 4091 reported cases. 

The major technical problem was the inability to define subsurface geohydrologic conditions with the initial data. Expertise in the area of geohydrology was clearly needed. A lack of specific analytical techniques precluded meaningful environmental and risk assessments. Cleanup efforts were complicated because poltiners are not regulated under RCRA but are regulated under state law. In the middle of the cleanup effort, the site became involved in Superfund activities, and to date this involvement has not been clarified. Project management has become very difficult because of the many players and laws involved. As a result, public confidence has been affected. 

The National Centre for Food Safety Technology, is spearheading several packaging related efforts to expand the fist of polymers that can be used for packaging in food irradiation applications. This comprehensive article explains and describes the current situation in the field of irradiated foods and packaging and provides an update on impending approval for processed and red meats. The industry is concerned to uphold and maintain public confidence in the processed food and irradiated food supply. 

External. Strong relationships with response partners and the public strengthen security and public confidence. Two of the recommended features of active and effective security programs address this need. 

An active and effective security program should address protection of public health, public safety (including infrastructure), and public confidence. Chemical facilities should create an awareness of security and an understanding of the rationale for their overall security management approach in the communities they reside in and/or serve. 

It is also important for chemical facilities to develop partnerships with the communities and customers they serve. Partnerships help to build credibility within communities and establish public confidence in utility operations. People who live near chemical facility structures can be the eyes and ears of the facility, and can be encouraged to notice and report changes in operating procedures or other suspicious behaviors. 

Do degradable plastics disappear as soon as they are discarded What are the dangers of public confidence in the degradability of plastics ... 

Patients are not the only victims of connterfeit drugs. Pharmaceutical companies can lose income from connterfeit drng competition. Public confidence in the company can be nndermined, leading it to stop buying the prodnct and instead pnrchase a competitor s product even after the connterfeit has been destroyed. A fast identification of the connterfeit drng is in the interest of pharmacentical companies and the protection of patients rights. 

Consumers will support investment in science if it helps to deliver products they value. But, in addition, public confidence in the whole notion ofiscience must be strong and well founded. People must feel that science is serving society and that it is properly regulated, open and accountable. The BSE crisis and the controversy over GMfoods have raised questions about the value of scientific progress in society. [...] We need a more systematic and independent approach to satisfy public concerns about the risks created by scientific innovation. (DTI, 2000, chapter 1, paragraph 16)... 

Harmonization of standards and evaluation procedures in the area of consumer safety will strengthen public confidence in the safety of food stuffs of animal origin, decrease trade barriers for food commodities and veterinary medicinal products, and help to reduce the amount of animal experimentation. In any... 

Recent surveys have shown that more than one-fourth (29%) of United States consumers rely primarily on themselves to ensure the food they eat is safe (1). Surprisingly, consumers reliance was higher on manufacturers than government, with scores of 23% and 20%, respectively this is a dramatic change compared to 1988, when three times as many consumers relied on the government as on industry. Therefore, continuous information to consumers, particularly by health authorities, on the purpose of various food animal production practices and each person s responsibility in ensuring food safety is essential to create an informed public and to contribute further to public confidence. 

The public perception of the existence of any risk associated with the consumption of essential drinking water can have profound consequences both locally and nationally, including the loss of public confidence in political institutions. It can cause some consumers to shift from public water supplies to private sources, self-provided water treatment, or bottled water. 

State and public participation in the planning and development of repositories is essential in order to promote public confidence in the safety of disposal of such waste and spent fuel. 

At the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania on March 28, 1979. a hose contributed to the front-page event. In short, a nuclear reactor overheated, a small amount of radioactivity escaped, and the public confidence about the safety of nuclear power was shattered. It is believed by the technical community that no one was likely to be harmed by this release, but it led to a slowdown in the growth of nuclear power in the United States. [9]... 

Improved monitoring techniques that are cheaper and more robust with respect to the environment will allow networks of monitoring wells to be placed between sources of radionuclides such as repositories or disposal sites and potentially exposed populations. This will improve the acceptance of MNA. With improved modeling capabilities and better understanding of radionuclide interactions, public confidence in predictions of the risk associated with radioactive waste management will increase. 

Procedures that are put in place would provide for guidcmce for interested parties on the content and format of registration applications, as well as the circumstances under which an application for renewal, variation or extension will be required. It also has to detail from the onset the criteria on which licence applications will be evaluated. In effect, there should be issuance of guidelines on the procedure to be followed in order to help retain public confidence and respect. 

In recent years several research papers have attributed an increase in autism to the introduction of the triple vaccine. This has led to a decreased public confidence in the vaccine. Detailed examination of the literature, and also the results of several clinical studies, have now indicated that there is no association between use of the triple vaccine and autism. This is backed up by over 20 years of successful deployment of the vaccine outside of the UK. Currently much effort is being made to restore confidence in the vaccine in order to avoid the lack of compliance leading to the occurrence of measles epidemics. 

Evaluating the program s impact on public trust is more complicated. Although Responsible Care may have helped arrest the precipitous decline in trust that marked the early to mid-1980s, industry polls continue to reveal low overall levels of public confidence in the industry. To address the concerns of its diverse stakeholders, the chemical industry has formed hundreds of community advisory councils and partnerships with community and environmental activists in an attempt to hear their points of view (see Section 6.7). While individual companies report improved community relations and while the industry is much more open than it has ever been, polls indicate that it remains low in the public s esteem (Moffet, 1999). 

The next few years offer an unprecedented opportunity for the chemical industry to acknowledge the need for more transparency and accountability for urgently supplying the much needed environmental and health data on chemicals they market. It also provides an opportunity to actively promote green chemistry, safer substitutes and innovation in the development of chemicals that are not persistent and do not bioaccumulate in living systems. The truth will reveal itself by the time the new EU chemical policy is adopted - in whatever form it has been shaped into by industry lobby and public campaigns. That will be the time to conduct a new opinion poll and see if public confidence has indeed risen. 

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