Resumo

SAMUEL, Antenor. Extensões da divulgação científica e da percepção pública da saúde na formulação de políticas públicas. BIS, Bol. Inst. Saúde (Impr.) [online]. 2010, vol.12, n.1, pp. 29-36. ISSN 1518-1812.

ABSTRACT Recent researches of public perception towards Science and Technology show that the health themes have acquired greater public penetration, taking part among those more directly interesting to people. Thus, the scientific disclosure of information on health has faster consequences, spreading in a way that is more cognizable for society, either in the behavior related to the health care and the positioning as for the public policies. Among the health themes, we aim at remarking the aspects related to individual and collective health, on which we suggest a reflection as from the discussions concerning stimulation and restriction to the use of cigarettes and automobiles, analyzed under the science and economics perspective. Thus, we aim at reflecting upon the treatments spent by the electronic media (Internet) with scientific studies related to the use of cigarettes and automobiles, with the respective generation of toxic substances and their absorption by the human body, with consequences for the individual, environmental and collective health. The economical arguments present within these studies were also observed, they are related to the treatments of diseases resulting from such causes, and its influence in the development of public policies concerning these uses. Lastly, we found that the influence of the public perception in the formulation of health policies faces an obstacle as for the economical aspects.

Palavras-chave : Scientific culture; public perception; public policies.