JUDGMENTS OF CHEMICAL RISKS - COMPARISONS AMONG SENIOR MANAGERS, TOXICOLOGISTS, AND THE PUBLIC

Nineteen Senior Managers of a major chemical company in the United Kin gdom participated in a survey to determine their attitudes, beliefs, a nd perceptions regarding risks from chemicals. Similar surveys had pre viously been conducted with toxicologists and members of the general p ublic in the United States and Canada. In general, the Senior Managers tended to judge risks to be quite small for most chemicals. Moreover, they had lower risk perceptions than did members of the British Toxic ological Society and even far lower perceptions of risk than a compari son group of members of the Canadian public. The managers held views t hat were similar to British toxicologists working in industry and gove rnment and dissimilar to the views of toxicologists working in academi a. The observed differences between views of managers, toxicologists, and the public must be recognized and understood in order to facilitat e communication and constructive efforts to manage chemical risks.