INTUITIVE TOXICOLOGY .2. EXPERT AND LAY JUDGMENTS OF CHEMICAL RISKS IN CANADA

This study is a replication and extension in Canada of a previous stud y in the United States in which toxicologists and members of the publi c were surveyed to determine their attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions regarding risks from chemicals. This study of ''intuitive vs. scienti fic toxicology'' was motivated by the premise that different assumptio ns, conceptions, and values underlie much of the discrepancy between e xpert and lay views of chemical risks. The results showed that Canadia n toxicologists had far lower perceptions of risk and more favorable a ttitudes toward chemicals than did the Canadian public. The public's a ttitudes were quite negative and showed the same lack of dose-response sensitivity found in the earlier U.S. study. Both the public and the toxicologists lacked confidence in the value of animal studies for pre dicting human health risks. However, the public had great confidence i n the validity of animal studies that found evidence of carcinogenicit y, whereas such evidence was not considered highly predictive of human health risk by many toxicologists. Technical judgments of toxicologis ts were found to be associated with factors such as affiliation, gende r, and worldviews. Implications of these data for risk communication a re briefly discussed.