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Risk and Responsibility in Korean Tobacco Litigation: Epidemiology and Causality in Late Modern Risk  

Park, Jinyoung (서울대학교 과학사 및 과학철학 협동과정)
Yi, Doogab (서울대학교 서양사학과 & 과학사 및 과학철학 협동과정)
Publication Information
Journal of Science and Technology Studies / v.15, no.2, 2015 , pp. 229-262 More about this Journal
Abstract
Toxic tort cases have increased dramatically since the 1970s, as large technological systems, such as nuclear power plants and chemical factories, or mass-produced, high-tech products, had exposed citizens and consumers to dangerous substances. It was, however, difficult to establish causal connection between exposure and the alleged harms in many of the environmental, pollution, and product liability cases under the framework of tort law conception of causation and responsibility. Science and law was called upon to resolve such 'late modern' legal cases where true causes are hard to find, where no single explanatory factor is sufficient for explaining diseases like cancer. This article examines how plaintiffs in the Korean tobacco litigation mobilized such late modern tools in science and law, such as epidemiology and the allocation of the burden of proof, in the context of the global circulation of science and law. It further shows how a set of the scientific theories and legal arguments developed in order to cope with late modern risk played a central role in establishing a causation between smoking and cancer in 2011. This article suggests that STS scholars can fruitfully examine the interaction between science and law as a way to understand and engage with social and legal issues engendered by late modern risk.
Keywords
science and law; Korean tobacco litigation; risk; epidemiology; causation;
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