Drawing on the broad recent litterature on the social production of ignorance, the objective of thls presentation is to consider the place of ignorance in policymaking, i.e. the fact that certain kinds of issues and knowledge are systematically left out of consideration by policymakers, while other actors consider they should deserve attention.
To do so, it will present the long-term transnational controversy on mammography screening in a general population and the resulting contrastive public policies towards middle-aged women. It will show how different epidemiological, clinical and patient knowledge are considered or ignored, first to build up screening programs, then to maintain or transform them when they have to face organized criticism both from experts and groups of patients. Relying on other screening and prevention policies in public health described in the litterature, it finally discusses the place of ignorance in designing contemporary biopolitics.
