The importance of risk perception and risk communication for toxicological risk assessment

In the last chapter, I discussed the idea that there may be a societal input into deciding what are ‘unacceptable’, ‘tolerable’ and ‘broadly acceptable’ risks. This depends on how risks are perceived. In this chapter, I deal with risk perception and with the need to ensure that decisions concerning risk are accepted. Implicit in seeking consensus on how risks are perceived and accepted is a need to communicate about risk.