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Managing Real and Perceived Risks: Animal Antibiotics and Drug-Resistant Infections

In: Improving Risk Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Louis Anthony Cox

    (Cox Associates)

Abstract

Many known or suspected health hazards awaken uneasiness as soon as they are mentioned, before any quantitative risk analysis is offered. Chemicals that might cause cancer or birth defects, hidden contaminants spreading in food or water or air, and invisible but possibly deadly radiation are among the hazards that directly engage our emotions. They may stir revulsion, outrage, and an impetus toward action, even if the sizes of the health risks that they create are unknown. Public concern about such threats can be amplified by news stories that present vivid anecdotes and plausible-sounding (even if unproved) conjectures about cause and effect, as well as by deliberate political, scientific, or corporate fear-mongering designed to galvanize particular actions or further particular agendas (Gardner 2009). Quantitative risk analysis (QRA) of the frequencies and severities of adverse effects caused by these hazards may have relatively little influence on the outcomes of such emotionally charged proceedings. And yet, QRA information is essential for deciding how to allocate limited social attention and resources most effectively to obtain substantial reductions in harm to human health.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis Anthony Cox, 2012. "Managing Real and Perceived Risks: Animal Antibiotics and Drug-Resistant Infections," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Improving Risk Analysis, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 181-222, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:isochp:978-1-4614-6058-9_6
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-6058-9_6
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