Praxeologies in Regulatory Science. A case of Benefits Assessment

Abstract

[eng] This contribution offers a praxeological analysis of the expert benefits assessment of food which is implemented according to the European Health Claims Regulation. Concepts borrrowed from the Science & Technology Studies and Social epistemology, such as 'epistemic cultures' of Knorr-Cetina, 'epistemic policies' of Luján and Todt, and 'civic epistemologies' of Jasonoff, are used. The objetive is to show how both epistemic and non-epistemic assumptions detetmine the operationalization of this case of regulatory science and how its resulting praxeological features determine a priori certain implications that transcend its practice. Finally, this contribution argues that the diversity in the implementation of health claim regulation demostrates that the choice of a particular approach to assessing health claims is not inevitable consequence of the available evidence, nor the uncertainties present, but a consequence of the epistemic culture which experts assume as their own and of how regulatory objectives are epistemically interpreted.