Public Reactions to Risk Messages Communicating Different Sources of Uncertainty: An Experimental Test

There is an abundant literature on the challenge of integrating uncertainties in experts’ risk assessments, but the evidence on the way they are understood by the public is scarce and mixed. This study aims to better understand the effect of communicating different sources of uncertainty in risk communication. A causal design was employed to test the effect of communicating risk messages varying in type of advisory warning (no risk and suggests no protective measure, or risk and recommends a protective measure) and sources of uncertainty (no uncertainty, divergence between experts, contradictory data, or lack of data) on public reactions. Participants from the general public (N = 434) were randomly assigned to read and react to variants of a fictitious government message discussing the presence of a new micro-organism found in tap water. Multiple analysis of variance showed that to report uncertainty from divergence between experts or from contradictory data reduced the adherence to the message, but not to mention the lack of data. Moreover, the communication of diverse sources of uncertainty did not affect trust in the government when the advisory warning stated there was a risk and recommended a protective measure. These findings have important implications for risk communication.     

Radiation from mobile phone systems: Is it perceived as a threat to people's health?

The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence, nature and determinants of concerns about mobile phone radiation. We used data from a 2006 telephone survey of 1004 people aged 15+ years in Denmark. Twenty‐eight percent of the respondents were concerned about exposure to mobile phone radiation; radiation from masts was of concern to about 15%. In contrast, 82% were concerned about pollution. Nearly half of the respondents considered the mortality risk of 3G phones and masts to be of the same order of magnitude as being struck by lightning (0.1 fatalities per million people per year) while 7% thought it was equivalent to tobacco‐induced lung cancer (～500 fatalities per million per year). Among women, concerns about mobile phone radiation were positively associated with educational attainment, perceived mobile phone mortality risk and concerns about unknown consequences of new technologies. More than two thirds of the respondents felt that they had received inadequate public information about the 3G system. The results of the study indicate that the majority of the population has little concern about mobile phone radiation while a small minority is very concerned. Bioelectromagnetics 30:393–401, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Laypeople's Health Concerns and Health Beliefs in Regard to Risk Perception of Mobile Communication

The consensus scientific view is that there is an absence of convincing scientific evidence for health risks of exposures to electromagnetic fields (EMF) at levels below those recommended in international guidelines. Nevertheless, some citizens are worried about EMF emitted by mobile communication and its consequences for health. The present study explored, by means of a mail survey, health concerns and the prevalence of health beliefs related to EMF in the general population. A random sample (n = 765, response rate 41%) of the German-speaking population in Switzerland was asked to assess various health beliefs. Results suggest that health concerns are widespread but lower than health concerns in regard to other hazards. About two-thirds of the respondents believed that some people suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). Health beliefs items were analyzed using the Mokken scale. This scale was related to respondents' health concerns and showed that health beliefs differed in regard to sociodemographic variables. For example, analyses showed that females, younger respondents, and respondents who believed that some people are affected by EHS endorsed significantly more health beliefs than males, older respondents, and non-EHS respondents. Results indicate that it is important for policy-makers to develop a clear understanding of the possible effects of health beliefs on health concerns and risk perception. These findings may provide guidance for the further development of information materials and strategies.     

Asymmetry in size, shape, and color impairs the protective value of conspicuous color patterns

The received view of protective coloration in animals is thatconspicuous colors and patterns have evolved because they elicitavoidance behavior in potential predators. In the present study,we examine the spontaneous response of naive predators (Gallusgallus domesticus) to artificial prey to test the hypothesisthat deviations from bilateral symmetry of signaling patternelements may negatively influence the avoidance-inducing effectof conspicuous color patterns. Chicks displayed stronger aversionsto artificial "butterfly" prey items possessing symmetric colorpattern elements than to those possessing asymmetric signalswith pattern elements of different color or shape. Althoughthey attacked signals with a size asymmetry of 5% at the samerate as symmetric signals, signals with a size asymmetry of7.5% or more were attacked more often than were symmetric signals.These results suggest that the protective value of conspicuouscolor patterns is impaired by asymmetry in color, shape, andsize of color pattern elements. Our findings also argue againstthe notion that animals have inherent preferences for symmetricover asymmetric objects, and demonstrate the existence of athreshold for asymmetry detection, beyond which further incrementsin asymmetry have no influence on signal efficacy.     

Risk Perception and Energy Production

Mean risk magnitude judgments expressed by Belgian and French students on 107 items combining a particular energy domain (wood and biomass, coal, gas, oil, nuclear, water, wind, geothermal and solar) and a particular aspect of the energy production process (obtaining raw materials, storage of raw materials, transport of raw materials, energy production, waste products related to energy production, energy transport, waste products transport, waste products storage, utilization of energy) are reported, and analyzed. Questions were of the form: What is the level of risk (for health and the environment) associated with the item “Electrical energy production by thermodynamic conversion”? Concerning energy domains, nuclear energy received the highest ratings, almost regardless of the aspect of the energy production process considered (from the extraction of raw materials to the storage of production wastes). This was followed by oil, obtaining the next highest ratings after those for nuclear energy, then gas, considered more risky than biomass and coal. The brand image of these two latter energy sources would be almost as positive as that of water, solar, geothermal and wind energy if a solution could be found to the problem of atmospheric emission of carbon monoxide. Concerning production process aspects, waste products (as well as the transport and storage of waste) received the highest ratings. This is not unrelated to the fact that the vast majority of studies devoted to a particular area or particular aspect have concerned nuclear waste. In contrast, no very high degree of concern was found regarding the energy (electrical) transport aspect.     

Seasonal variations of mercury levels and human health risk in vegetables from Arid Oasis (Shihezi city), Xinjiang,Northwest China

The purpose of this study was to investigate the seasonal variations of mercury levels and human health risk in vegetables that were collected from farmland, home garden, and plastic greenhouse in summer and winter 2016 in Arid Oasis (Shihezi city), Xinjiang, Northwest China. The results showed that the levels of mercury in fresh vegetables were lower in winter (0.003–0.025 mg·kg^?1) than in summer (0.001–0.035 mg·kg^?1). Single factor pollution (P) in vegetables indicated that all vegetables were polluted in diverse levels. The exceeding rate in different vegetables was 0.00% to 88.89% in summer and 0.00% to 100% in winter compared with limits of pollutants in vegetables. The value of bio-concentration factor (BCF) revealed that the mercury absorption capacity of 10 species vegetables decreased in the following order: pea seedling > spinage > caraway > lettuces > pakchoi > celery > crowndaisy chrysanthemum > chives > spinach > shallot. The daily intake (DI) and target hazard quotient (THQ) of mercury for children (2–12 years), young adults (18–45 years), and quinquagenarian (>45 years) indicated that non-carcinogenic values were below the threshold values except one sampling sit from farmland around the industrial parks. Furthermore, the THQ of open field in summer was higher than plastic greenhouse in winter. Under the same pollution level, children had more non-carcinogenic risk than young adults and quinquagenarian.     

Biased Confidence in Risk Assessment Studies

The present research examined factors that influence laypeople's confidence in the results of risk assessment studies. A 2 (hazard; cell phone, base station) × 2 (study outcome; no risk, risk) × 2 (health effect; well-being, cancer) × 3 (risk perception prior to the manipulation; low, medium, high) design was used. Results showed that participants had more confidence in studies with results that were in line with their prior attitudes compared with studies that were at odds with their prior attitudes. In addition, participants had more confidence in studies showing a risk compared with studies showing no risk. Results suggest that these biases may be one of the reasons why laypeople are concerned about technological risks, even when risk assessment studies indicate that there is a low probability of adverse health effects.     

EMF recommendations specific for children?

When discussing health risks for children due to electromagnetic fields it is crucial to translate scientific knowledge both into adequate protection and precautionary measures for the general public and, more particularly into specific recommendations for children. It is often aimed at influencing health-related attitudes and behaviour by means of information about health affecting behaviour, health risk factors, and health promoting possibilities. Children have to be treated differently from adults in addressing their ability and willingness to modify behaviour and their competence to comprehend cognitively the sense of behavioural recommendations. Research has shown that adults can be motivated to adjust their own behaviour in order to protect their children or to be role models for their children. Hence one way to modify children’s behaviour is to address the parents and care persons. Generally education in the family, the social environment and in peer groups, nursery school and at school plays an important role in forming and influencing individual behaviour. The age of the target group has also to be taken into consideration.An important question is how to deal with scientific uncertainties when expressing EMF recommendations for children. Accentuating scientific uncertainties may under certain circumstances raise risk awareness. This can be an intended effect. But the expression of scientific uncertainties can also lead to unintended consequences in parent’s behaviour or even senseless dealing with the respective EMF source.The paper points out relevant aspects of risk communication regarding EMF and children and suggests how recommendations for children might be designed.