Antifouling Paint Regulation and Risk Communication. R. E. Löfstedt, Risk Research Group, Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK
On November 11, 1998, the Swedish Chemical Inspectorate, after several years of study, passed legislation which called for the complete ban (effective of 1 January 1999) of antifouling paint products for pleasure boats in the Baltic Sea by the year 2002. The evidence for the ban was based on marine research studies which had shown that the paints had proven toxic to marine organisms. In the regulatory process leading up to the ban, the Chemical Inspectorate put forward a risk communication programme aimed at the pleasure boat owners. In this paper, I look at the boat owners’ attitudes to the risk communication programme, the ban itself as well as to the Swedish Chemical Inspectorate. Of particular interest, I examine whether this example of proactive environmental regulation led to the victims (in this case the boat owners) decreasing their trust toward the regulator (which would seem logical) or whether, in fact, due to the risk communication programme, their trust toward the Chemical Inspectorate increased. The study is based on 10 in-depth person to person interviews and a telephone survey with 50 boat owners along the Baltic Sea coast.
This study was funded by a grant from the Swedish Chemical Inspectorate.
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