Facts and values in risk assessment

Risk, as commonly understood, is a complex melange of facts, values, and fears. While this complexity of public risk perception is row broadly recognized, its implications are insufficiently explored. Public risk perceptions offer it poor guide for public policymaking. Popular assessments of risk are tainted by misinformation and unreliable heuristics. While subjective considerations, often called values, play a role in public perception of risk, those 'values' are often inappropriate for government decisionmaking. Reliance on public perceptions of risk means more premature deaths. Public risk perception also is systematically skewed contrary to the interests of the disadvantaged. Strict probabilistic risk measures generally provide a superior guide for government regulatory policy. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Limited.