Communicating risk under Title III of SARA: strategies for explaining very small risks in a community context
Under Title III of SARA, companies must provide information about chemicals that they manufacture, store, or process. Communities will use data about potential accidental releases to develop local emergency plans. Data about routine chemical releases will be made available to the public on a computer data base. Simply having such data available does not ensure consensus about reducing potential chemical risks. Laboratory and field research are summarized, indicating that people tend to edit small risks to zero as being too small to worry about, or to adjust them imperfectly from an anchor equal to the potential loss. These results suggest recommendations for communicating about the risks posed by accidental or routine releases of chemicals.
- Research Organization:
- US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 5908887
- Journal Information:
- JAPCA, Int, J. Air Pollut. Control Waste Manage.; (United States), Vol. 39:3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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