Technology and Risk

1. Technology and Risk Chapter 15

2. Technology and Risk • Technology is the application of scientific knowledge and methods to the solution of societal problems • We tend to think of technology as a positive force for improving our lives and the world • However, no technology is without some degree of risk and/or cost • If it is believed that the benefits to be gained from the use of technology will far outweigh any minimal risk, the decision to proceed with the technology’s development and application is an obvious one.

3. X-Rays • X-rays were discovered in the 1890 and the human skeleton could now be view without cutting the skin • In the 1950s, this technology was used in shoes stores to see if shoes properly fit • It was at this time that is was discovered that x-rays could also damage human cells and was promptly banned except for medical use

4. Radium • From 1917-1927, the US Radium Corporation hired workers to paint radium-lighted watches and instruments which would glow in the dark • Many of the painters subsequently died due to radiation sickness, as they used their mouths to form a point on the radium tainted brushes • In NYC the Radium Dial Company is now a 1/3 acre lot in Queens contaminated with 226 radon, and gamma ray emissions. It sits within a 3-mile radius of over 300,000 residents and only 10 feet from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway • In 1989 the EPA determined that the site “poses a significant treat to human health and the environment”

5. Chlorinating Water Supplies • In underdeveloped countries throughout the world one primary causes of disease and death is bacteria-borne illness due to contamination of public drinking supplies with sewage • According to the World Health Organization, water-borne disease is responsible for approximately 5 million deaths a year, or over 13,000 deaths every day, in developing countries • Developed countries protect against such water-borne illnesses by upgrading both the water delivery supply and sewage disposal system • According to the Chlorine Chemical Council, the chlorination of public water supply and the resulting elimination of disease-causing microorganisms have played a key role in increasing the American citizens’ life expectancy from 45 years in 1900 to about 76 years today • Research in the early 1970s began to provide evidence that in addition to its germicidal effects, chlorine in municipal water systems also combine chemically with organic molecules in the water to form disinfection by-products or DBPs

6. The known DBPs are suspected carcinogens or teratogens • But, in Albany NY prior to the turn of the century the death rate from water-borne typhoid was 110 per 100,000 of the total population • When water filtration technology was added in 1900, the death rate dropped to 20 per 100,000 • After the addition of chlorination the death rate dropped to zero and has remained there ever since • The concentration of chlorine is carefully regulated and the EPA regulates limits of human exposure to DBPs

7. Cooking Steaks • The bacterial contamination of our food supply is inevitable and presents another route for the transmission of disease and death • Every year approximately 30 million Americans become ill due to contaminated food, with up to 9,000 actually dying • By cooking our food at high temperatures, particularly meat, we can kill all or a majority of bacteria that may contaminate it • But by heating meat to these high temperatures, amino acids molecules in protein produces byproducts known as heterocyclic amines (HCA) and these have been shown to cause a variety of cancers. • But the risk of morbidity or mortality due to food borne illness is MUCH higher than the minimal risk of inducing cancer through the presence of HCAs

8. Irradiation of Food • Irradiation of food by gamma rays or electron beams, within a shielded facility, kills most harmful bacteria, insects, and parasites • The FDA has approved irradiation of a variety of foods including, meats, poultry, fresh fruits and vegetables, and spices. • The changes produced by irradiation may cause the loss of some nutrients but no more than other processing methods

9. Sources of Technological Risks • No system or component is infallible or unerring • The risk of some unfavorable or detrimental event occurring as the result of a technological application can be attributed to one or any combination of the following sources • Hardware factors • Human factors • Organizational factors • External social factors

10. Hardware Factors • Physical failure of the technology or one of its component parts - equipment failure • Space shuttle Challenger – faulty O-rings that seal the gaps between rocket sections • TWA flight 800 blew up off coast of Long Island in 1996 due to poor design of the center fuel tank

11. Human Factors • Human factors refer to people related sources of risk • Three mile island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania was damaged due to “operator error”, the operator misinterpreted several control readings and failed to open critical valves • This accident initially involved hardware factors, but the operator failed to realize the extent of the problem for at least two and a half hours

12. Organizational Factors • Source of risk related to operational and regulatory portions of the system • The space ship challenger disaster was not completely due to faulty O-rings but to the organizational structure of NASA • Knowing that the rubber of O-rings were subject to losing their flexibility at cold temperature and NASA set 40 degrees F as the minimum temperature • The night before the launch the temperatures fell to 8 degrees F. • The fight was allowed to proceed due to the organizational structure of NASA and its dependence on politically influenced funding.

13. External Social Factors • Factors completely outside of the technology itself or the human or organizational systems related to it • The disaster of 9/11 although partially due to technological failures of the building design, escape systems, and fire control mechanisms, was precipitated by a terrorist attack influenced by hatred and politics, external social factors

14. Controlling Risk • Automobiles • Provide numerous social benefits related to the speed at which we can move people and materials over great distances at relatively low costs • Risks and costs include accident related injuries and death and significant environmental pollution • About 45,000 people lose their lives because of automobiles each year and about 250,000 people are injured because of automobiles • In the early part of the last century the automobile was thought to be the solution to the pollution of our streets by horses depositing tons of manure and millions of gallons of urine each day on the streets of NYC • We limit the risk by regulation in design and use

15. Chapter Goals • Be conscious of the fact that every technology has associated risks • Weigh risks in terms of benefits • Identify sources of technological risk