We've tried to unravel the bases for these disagreements. Risks that are imposed loom larger than those that are voluntary. People will accept the risk from skiing, for example, but not from food preservatives, even though the potential for injury or ill health from skiing is roughly 1,000 times that from preservatives, according to a 1987 article in the journal Science by Dr. Slovic. Risks that seem unfairly shared are also seen as more hazardous. Risks that people can take steps to control are more acceptable than those they feel are beyond their control.
Natural risks are less threatening than man-made ones.
For example, the exposure to radon found naturally in the soil is more acceptable than exposure to the same amount of radon from radioactive mine tailings. Risks that are associated with catastrophes are especially frightening, the accident at Bhopal, India, amplified people's fears of chemical plants, just as the recent earthquake in Los Angeles has made people's fears of a repeat more vivid. Risks from exotic technologies create more dread than do those involving familiar ones. The report points out that when officials dismiss such concerns as misguided they stir anger and distrust, and advises that officials pay as much attention to these outrage factors as to scientific findings on risk. News coverage is of major importance in people's reaction to a risk the more attention the news media pay to it, the worse it is assumed to be.