RE: More on "Perception is reality"

[Jack_Earley@RL.GOV]

Having taught relative risk, and perceptions of it, in the past, one of the

examples I've used is driving--in particular, people who speed, but wait for

a passing zone even when they can see that the road ahead is clear (the

"honest lawbreakers" pass you no matter what--no deception on their part).

But my favorite one of these was a Sunday school teacher a few weeks ago who

made such a point in class about abiding by the speed laws--and then passed

me (he was speeding) the following Tuesday on the way to work! Ever notice

that HP techs only get contaminated when other people are around?



Jack Earley

Radiological Engineer





-----Original Message-----

From: RuthWeiner@AOL.COM [mailto:RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 6:29 AM

To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: More on "Perception is reality"





While driving through the night from Raleigh, NC the Charleston SC (don't 

ask) I got to thinking about realistic and unrealistic perceptions,and it 

struck me that the mist unrealistic risk perception that modern Americans 

have is the risk of driiving or riding in a car.  I drove from 8PM until 

about 1 AM, by myself, in a rental car, on interstate highways, at 70 mph, 

passing trucks, being passed by cars and trucks going much faster than the

70 

mph speed limit, and did I really think I would be injured or die?:  Of 

course not, but here is a demonstrable risk that people take all the tme.  

Moreover, while I can mitigate the risk by wearing a seat bel, obeying the 

speed limit, etc, I cannot mitigate the risk of a drunk driver hitting me 

head-on while driving the wrong way on the freeway (yes, we just had another



of those in New Mexico: four peole wiped out.  In N.M. this is not 

infrequent.).  



Now by any observation of the frequency of fatality and injury, driving in a



car carries a whole lot larger risk than being exposed to radon, living near



a nuke plant, being in the fallout of an accident involving spent fuel 

transportation, or even a "dirty bomb."  If just the thought of risk causes 

panic, why don't people panic when they are driving?  Why wasn't there 

wholesale panic when the speed limit was raised?   There are far better 

statistics on the relation between speed and traffic deaths and injuries

than 

between low-level radiation exposure, or radon exposure, and cancer.



I think (and I'm ready for the brickbats, folks) that "radiophobia" and the 

associated fears include a fair amount of self-delusion, whether deliberate 

or inadvertent.  I am sure Jim Hardeman is right -- there would be clamor,

at 

least initially, to clean up every atom, etc., though I think the clamor 

would subside.  After all, the residents of Pripyat wanted to move back.  

Also, it's easy and convenient to blame the government or some nebulous 

corporate entity, and to think that "the government" is paying for the 

cleanup and forget that the source of "the government's" money is the same 

taxpayer who is paying car insurance.  I also believe that the anti-nuclear 

movement deliberately perpetuates and exacerbates radiophobia.  



Finally, it's fun and easy to be a victim if it doesn't hurt.   I have 

attended many, many public hearings on nuclear matters, and there is always 

wailing and gnashing of teeth about someone's friend or relative who had 

cancer, but I have never seen any anti-nuke or anti-nuke sympathizer at

these 

hearings who can actually claim that he or she has beeen harmed by

low-levels 

of ionizing radiation.  Go to a public hearing on drunk driving, and there 

are plenty of personal experiences on display.



Bottomline?  1.  Radiophobia is based largely on the LNT, for which there is



no evidence. 2.  There is a common perception, or belief, that exposure to 

small amounts of ionizing radiation is  lot more risky than accumulated 

evidence shows it to be. 3.  This is a misperception, and there is no other 

honest way to say it.  



Ruth  



RuthF. Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com

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