Communicating risk: Compulsory measures can work

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7428.1403-a

BMJ 2003;327:1403 (13 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7428.1403-a

Letter

Communicating risk

Compulsory measures can work

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Thank you for devoting an issue of the BMJ to theimportant topic of communication and public perception of risk.As a public health doctor, I have long puzzled over the apparentdissonance between statistical and public interpretation ofrisk.

Risks imposed by others may be less acceptable than risks underindividual control. In the examples covered by Bellaby,¹ injuriesto child passengers could be perceived by parents as under theirown control. Measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination² and variantCreutzfeldt-Jakob disease are, however, perceived as imposedby authority.

When comparing the risk of death from smoking and air travel,statistics tell us that air travel is incredibly safe and thatsmoking is not. Plane crashes induce enormous public fear, yetsome 340 jumbo jets would have to crash every year to equalthe toll from smoking in the United Kingdom. The media, andhence the public, seem . . . [Full text of this article]

Rosemary J Geller, director of health strategy

Shropshire and Staffordshire Health Authority, Stafford ST16 3SR rosemary.gellerparkhouse@freeserve.co.uk

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Communication and miscommunication of risk: understanding UK parents' attitudes to combined MMR vaccination: Paul Bellaby
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