Risk Analysis: Risk Communication: Novel Foods and Novel Technologies

Abstract

This article summarizes the basic principles and strategies of effective risk communication in the context of public perceptions of risks, especially those associated with novel foods and technologies. It clarifies the distinction between scientific judgments about levels of risk and nonscientific judgments about the acceptability of risk, and shows how these are often confused in the assessment of public perceptions of risk. Risk communication is more about addressing the latter type of judgments than the former, though much risk communication focuses on the former. The article summarizes the most significant factors that are known to shape public perceptions of risk acceptability, and lays out a framework for taking these seriously in risk communication.