Risk perception - the behavioral reaction to health risks
by Lennart Möller
Introduction
01 Cancer
02 Ozone
03 Urban air
04 Air pollutants
05 Blue-green algae
06 Water mutagens
07 Contamination
08 Chernobyl
09 Radon
10 Medical geology
11 Renal hazards
12 Organohalogens
13 Estrogens
14 Food hazards
15 Mycotoxins
16 Poisoning
17 Genetics
18 Risk
(Excerpt from Chapter 18)
0.00005 Ci/kg is a much more severe contamination of radioactivity compared to 63,000 Bq/kg. |
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Risks
Every day in our lives, we make a number of risk assessments. In most cases, we are not aware of doing so. Crossing a street, for instance. Where should you cross? From where you are standing right now? Or should you go to a pedestrian crossing with signals? And when? Should you wait for the next vehicle to pass? Should you wait for a green light or...?
Is your assessment affected by weather like heavy rain, fog, sunshine or icy winter streets? Is the risk assessment affected by the presence of other people, e.g. if you are together with small children, an elderly person, a handicapped person or - if you are a public person - if the media is present? Would your decision to cross the street be affected by your boss waiting for your presentation when you are ten minutes late, or if you are on vacation in Miami Beach?
Do you think that your decision would be affected by the fact that one of your friends was hit by a car last week, or that you know that a certain type of car has brakes that very often fail in acute situations? Will your risk assessment in terms of crossing a street change over time?
Just by thinking about this relatively simple issue - the risk involved in crossing a street - a number of aspects come to mind that we realize affect our behavior to some degree. It is not so strange that our behavior can change from day to day or from one year to another either. This is true of all types of situation where we make small or large risk assessments that concern ourselves or nations. But one thing is important: to realize that we behave irrationally in many cases. It is therefore important to understand why we act as we do and why other people act as they do.
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Lennart Möller has a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences (1988) at Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden, and is Professor in Environmental Medicine (2001). He is group leader for the Laboratory of Analytical Toxicology (1989-) and deputy executive director of the Center for Nutrition and Toxicology (1989-) at Karolinska Institutet. His current research focuses on DNA lesions induced by factors in the environment and oxidative stress. The research involves development of analytical methods, preclinical and clinical applications and drug development. Karolinska Institutet is the Medical University of Stockholm.
