Life Risk Assessment

Cohen writes that "the public's attention is determined more by media coverage than by results of scientific risk analysis. The most glaring example of this is nuclear power, which is widely perceived by the public as being dangerous. Yet its perceived risk is inflated by a factor of many thousands." Actually, alcohol and fatness are riskiest. Regarding the pesticide and carcinogene panic,

everything man does, purposely or through pollution, is trivial in comparison with nature's contribution. All plants contain toxic chemicals to protect them from their natural enemies. Many of these chemicals can cause cancer, for example: nitrosamines in beets, celery and lettuce; aflatoxin in peanuts, corn, and milk; sterigmatocystine in salami, ham, and wheat; hydrazines in mushrooms; allyl isothiocyanate in mustard, broccoli, and cabbage; safrole in pepper; tannins in coffee, tea, and wines; psoralens in celery and parsley; ethyl carbamate in bread, yogurt, beer, and wine; formaldehyde in fruits; benzene in eggs; methylene chloride in fats; coumarin in candy; diacetyl in coffee and butter; and flavonoids in fruits and vegetables. These are nature's pesticides, and per quantity ingested, they are typically as carcinogenic as man-made pesticides. However, our food contains 10,000 times as much of nature's pesticides as of man-made pesticides.

How frustrating must be working for the Ministry of Environment fighting phantom risks. Well, people get used to everything and finds justifications for what they are doing.