ABSTRACT
M. Kosugi Socio-economic Research Center, CRIEPI, Tokyo, Japan
H. Kubota Environmental Science Research Center, CRIEPI, Chiba, Japan
ABSTRACT: A web survey investigating attitudes toward food safety, the public’s risk perception of mercury in fish, and knowledge of the risk of mercury to the fetuses associated with the consumption of specific species of fish was conducted. The survey was conducted in March 2007, and there were 2,109 respondents for a response rate was 43.5%. Results showed that: 1) respondents were sensitive to food safety, but they were not necessarily knowledgeable regarding management of food risk, 2) the perceived risk to human health concerning ‘mercury in seafood’ was high, especially the risk to fetuses, and 3) there were three possible interpretations: respondents knew the risk of low-level mercury exposure to fetuses, associate mercury found in fish only with the ‘Minamata’ disease, and respondents knew both of the risk of low-level and high-level mercury exposure. These results suggest the necessity to clarify the public’s ideas, knowledge, and the relationship between these two in more detail.
