CERN LHC = danger?

Link: http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.5480

This is a quote from an article published at arXiv.org and Tennessee Law Review December 30 2009:

'Legal expert Prof. Eric Johnson (University of North Dakota) profoundly analyses the dangers and risks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operated by the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland in a new independent study.
His multi-disciplinary perspective covers legal and socio-psychological aspects and also reflects the physical discourse in many details'

Quotes from the critical conclusion of Prof. Johnson:

“Even a tiny chance of a black-hole catastrophe could be very significant as matter of equity before a court. The alleged downside, after all, is the disappearance of our planet down a cosmic drain.

From my perspective as a lawyer, sizing up the merits of the case, I find the assurances provided by the particle-physics community to be quite lacking. In particular, I am struck by the fact that the safety assurances are based on scientific work that brazenly lacks independence.”

“…the history of the black-hole debate leaves me uneasy. There is a repeating pattern of airtight assurances—presented with utter conviction—that are quietly abandoned later when the scientific bedrock upon which they are based suddenly erodes.”

“My argument is one of law. My conviction is that, when a black-hole case arrives on a docket, no court should abdicate its role as a bursar of equity, even where, as here, the socio-political pressure to abstain will be immense, the factual terrain will be intensely intellectually challenging, and the jurisprudential conundrums are legion. At the end of the day, whether the LHC represents an intolerable danger is, in my view, an open question. I have not endeavored to provide a definitive answer. But I think the courts should. […]
Otherwise, the wildly expanding sphere of human knowledge will overwhelm the institution of the courts and undo the rule of law—just when we need it most.”