Public Participation and Controversy involving Science: an Irish perspective Submitted by Fiona M Barbagallo BSc (Hons) MSc For the award of Doctor of Philosophy Supervised by Dr Kirk W Junker School of Communications Dublin City University February 2003 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ID number: 98970089 Fiona Barbagai lo Date: Acknowledgments A sincere lhank you to my supervisor Dr Kirk W Junker for his direction, support and patience over the past three years. I am very pleased that you found your way to DCU. I would like to express my gratitude to Brian Trench who provided direction and assistance during the past four years, particularly in the early stages of my research. Also I am grateful for the opportunity to explore and expand my ideas by teaching on the MSc Science Communication course. Throughout my years in Dublin I would like to thank a somewhat silent individual in my research, Ian Hughes, for his encouragement in my work and his willingness in inviting me to DCU and Queens all those years ago. I would like to acknowledge funding from the Royal Irish Academy, the DCU Research Committee and the School of Communications. The collection of the data would not have been possible without the agreement of the interviewees. I would especially like to thank Owen Ryan of the Department of Environment and Local Government, Tom McLoughlin of the EPA, Patrick O’Reilly of Monsanto and Clare Watson and Quentin Gargan of Genetic Concern for their time, resources and patience. I would like to thank the Department of Health and Children, the Dental Health Foundation and BioRescarch Ireland for providing me with the opportunity to be involved in the implementation of public consultation processes. Thank you to Annette Bolger and Brian Motherway for their support and assistance during various data collection and analysis stages of the research. In the final stages of the thesis I am indebted to my proofreaders Andrew, Michelle, Colin, Jo and Martin. I would like to thank the people who have made my stay, not only at DCU, but Dublin, so enjoyable. Thank you to ‘your ones’ from Cork—Yvonne and Ita—for keeping me sane during lunch and coffee breaks at DCU. I would also like to thank Josephine and Marisa for making me feel part of a home by providing meals, entertainment and Shiraz when most needed. Finally to Martin, thank you for tolerating the commuting and our less than ideal life style for four years. Your support was constant throughout my selfish endeavour. Now it is your turn to fulfil an ambition. Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS_______________________________________________________ III TABLE OF CONTENTS IV ABSTRACT VII LIST OF TABLES VIII LIST OF FIGURES IX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS X INTRODUCTION 1 P u rpo se of Stu d y 3 Significance o f Study 4 Per so n al Exper ien c e 6 R esea r c h F r a m ew o r k 7 Thesis O utline 8 General D efin itio n s 9 PART A—THEORY 11 CHAPTER 1—SCIENCE AND THE PUBLIC 12 W hat is Science C ommunication ? 13 Pu b l ic A w a r e n e s s R e s e a r c h M e t h o d s 18 R e a so n s fo r Sc ie n c e C ommunication 18 D e f in in g Sc ie n c e a n d t h e P u b l ic 21 W hat is Sc ien c e? 23 W ho is ‘The P u b l ic ’? 28 D iscussio n 31 CHAPTER 2—COMMUNICATING CONTROVERSY 33 How a n I ssue be c o m e s Controversial 35 Fr a m in g C o n tr o v ersy as Science 39 Communicating th e C o ntroversy 43 M a ss M e d ia 48 D iscu ssio n 60 PART B— STRATEGIES FOR DEMOCRACY___________________________________ 62 CHAPTER 3—MAKING DECISIONS____________________________________________ 63 P o licy-M a k in g in Ir ela n d 64 Ir is h P o l it ic a l C u l t u r e 64 W h a t is P u b l ic P o l ic y ? 66 M a k in g P u b l ic P o l ic y 66 In f l u e n c in g P u b l ic P o l ic y 68 W h o a r e t h e P o l ic y M a k e r s ? 70 D émocratisation of Scien c e an d T e c h n o lo g y 72 In P u r s u it o f D e m o c r a c y 72 T e c h n o l o g y 76 Sc ie n c e 79 E x p e r t K n o w l e d g e 81 P recautionary P r in c ip l e 86 D iscu ssio n 88 CHAPTER 4—PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROGRAMMES_____________________ 90 W h at is Pu blic P articipation ? 91 In te r e st in P u blic P articipation 93 O r ig in s o f P u b l ic P articipation 95 R ea so n s fo r P u blic P articipation 97 T h e D e m o c r a t ic P r o c e s s 98 L a y K n o w l e d g e 98 M a k in g B e t t e r D e c is io n s 100 Re d u c in g C o n f l ic t a n d In c r e a s in g L e v e l s o f T r u s t 100 L im ita tio ns of P u blic Participation 101 E xa m ples o f P ublic P articipation M et h o d s 103 E v a lu a tio n of P ublic Participation 110 E v a l u a t io n F r a m e w o r k s 111 E v a l u a t io n O u t c o m e s 116 O r ig in a l E v a l u a t io n F r a m e w o r k 117 D iscu ssio n 123 PART C—TWO ORIGINAL CASE STUDIES________________________________________ 126 CHAPTER 5—BACKGROUND & METHODOLOGY 127 G en etic a lly M od ified O r g a n ism s 129 B a c k g r o u n d 129 M e t h o d s 133 W a te r F luoridation 153 B a c k g r o u n d 153 M e t h o d s 157 C o m par iso n of th e T w o C ase Stu d ies 158 P ublic P articipation E v a lu a tio n 160 v (HAFTER 6—COMMUNICATING CONTROVERSY IN IRELAND 162 G e n e t ic a l l y M o d if ie d O r g a n is m s 163 W h o is In t e r e s t e d a n d W h y ? 164 W h a t a r e t h e P u b l ic I s s u e s ? 169 C ommunication o f C ontroversies in t h e P u b l ic Sp h e r e 184 A n a l y s is o f C o m b in e d M e d ia Sa m p l e 1 194 W a t e r F luoridation 201 W h o is In t e r e s t e d ? 201 W h a t a r e t h e P u b l ic Is s u e s ? 202 C ommunication o f C o n t r o v e r s y in t h e P u b l ic Sp h e r e 203 Su m m a r y 208 D is c u s s io n 209 CHAPTER 7—A SEARCH FOR IRISH DIALOGUE 211 G e n e t ic a l l y M o d if ie d O r g a n is m s 212 T h e D o E L G ’s N a t io n a l P u b l ic C onsultation 212 B io D iv u l g a 244 W a t e r F luoridation 253 F o r u m o n F luoridation 253 C o n c l u s io n 261 D is c u s s io n 262 CONCLUSIONS 266 BIBLIOGRAPHY 274 APPENDICES I Appendix A— Th e I r is h Tim e s b y D ate and Headline I Appendix b— Th e I r is h Tim e s Letters by Date and Headline IX A p p e n d ix C — O r ig in a l R e s e a r c h Q uestionnaire XI A p p e n d ix D —Fluoridation Communication Strategy XII A p p e n d ix E— F luoridation C ommunication P r o t o c o l XIV A p p e n d ix F— F o c u s G r o u p D is c u s s io n O u t l in e - D e n t a l H e a l t h F o u n d a t io n x v n A p p e n d ix G — F o o d D r in k & t o b a c c o F e d e r a t io n , IBEC GM F o o d P a m p h l e t XVIII A p p e n d ix H —Genetic Concern Pamphlet XX A p p e n d ix I—L is t o f S p e c ia l is t J o u r n a l is t s t h a t R e p o r t e d o n G M O s.