PESTICIDES AND WORKER SAFETY

A key problem in pesticide regulation is uncertainty about health risks. Trade-offs between economic benefits and worker health safety are examined using an empirical illustration. Alternative decision rules for regulation under uncertainty are considered: a safety fixed rule, which protects individuals from excessive health risks, and uncertainty-adjusted cost-benefit analysis, which evaluates aggregate trade-offs between health and economic welfare. These criteria may lead to opposite policy conclusions, suggesting that the most appropriate public policy is a safe minimum standard (SMS), which allows weighing of costs and benefits only after some minimum acceptable level of health safety has been assured.