A comparative study of the risk perceptions and risk communications of stakeholders within five european countries after the issue of the roadmap

Giuseppe Ru (1) , Wim van Wassenhove (2) , Alice Perazzini (1) , Kerstin Dressel (3)

1 CEA - Reference Centre for Animal Encephalopathies
2 CRC - Centre de recherche sur les Risques et les Crises
3 South German Institute of Empirical Social Research

Science-based control measures (such as the ban of the inclusion of meat and bone meal in feed and the removal of potentially BSE infected animal tissues, the so called specified risk materials, from the feed/food chains) by the EU and elsewhere resulted in the continuous decline of the BSE epidemic in recent years. The pressure to lift certain control measures led the European Commission to issue a TSE Roadmap allowing an open discussion on the potential for regulation relaxation. To investigate the risk perceptions of stakeholders and how to improve the communication in dealing with the TSE roadmap a qualitative social research has been carried out. Forty-six in-depth, semi-structured face-to-face interviews with risk managers and stakeholders were obtained in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. The main results obtained may be summarized as follows. TSE is not longer a hot topic: the interviewees shared the view that the TSE risk is clearly on decline and the overall BSE (and TSE) risk perception is low. Moreover all examined stakeholders appreciated the TSE Roadmap as a new communication strategy; however they provided several suggestions to improve the communication in the field of TSE.

Mots clés: BSE; TSE Roadmap; Risk perception; Communication; Qualitative study

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Gestion des risques et des crises

Giuseppe Ru, Wim van Wassenhove, Alice Perazzini, Kerstin Dressel. A comparative study of the risk perceptions and risk communications of stakeholders within five european countries after the issue of the roadmap. Epidémiologie et Santé Animale, 2010, 57 (2), 13-19. Texte de la communication orale présentée au cours des Journées scientifiques AEEMA, 21 mai 2. ⟨hal-00613309⟩