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American Morning

Interview With David Ropeik

Aired August 29, 2003 - 08:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What is your biggest fear factor getting SARS or the West Nile virus? Or with the anniversary of September 11 at hand, are you worried about another terrorist attack? In a new poll by CNN,"USA Today" and Gallup, 54 percent of those surveyed said they think a terrorist attack in the U.S. is likely in the next few weeks.
But our next guest says you might be concerned about the wrong things. He is David Ropeik, he's the co-author of "Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding Really What's Really Safe." He's with us this morning from our Boston bureau.

David, thanks very much for being with us. The book is just fascinating. It's all about risk analysis. You basically write in the book that the perceptions of risk, or our perceptions of risk really don't mirror reality. In what way?

DAVID ROPEIK, AUTHOR: Let me ask you a real quick quiz. Do you think cell phones and driving is a serious threat to public health? Just off the top of your head, yes or no?

COOPER: Because you mentioned it, I'll say no. But if you look at the media you would certainly think it's a major concern.

ROPEIK: Right. Or pesticides or DDT. If you ask most people they would either raise their hand or not, and there's no right or wrong. But who among them would have all the facts to decide?

Well, when you don't have all the facts and you want to survive, that's what risk perception is. You use what you can. And we have ancient kind of affective emotional patterns of identifying risks that are scarier or not and we use them more than the facts.

Like, we're afraid of a shark attack even though we know it's a low risk, because it's a really nasty way to die. Well that's part of why we fear cancer more than heart disease, even though heart disease kills one-third more people in America every year...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: So it's the perception of the risk, and the perception of the pain that might be associated with the risk that colors the way we see the risk?

ROPEIK: That's one factor. We're less afraid of risk when we have control, like when we're driving a car. Move over to the passenger seat and all of a sudden you're a front seat driver. Control makes us more or less afraid. Do we trust the government to protect us? If we trust them we'll be less afraid, et cetera.

Risk has 12, 15, 20 characteristics that we use more than the facts to decide.

COOPER: Let's look at some of the things a lot of people worry about but they're actually very low risk. Let's -- you talk about nuclear radiation for instance.

ROPEIK: Nuclear radiation, the total number of people affected in terms of cancer by Chernobyl, the worst meltdown in release we could have according to the U.N. is 1,800 people. That's a risk. But relatively low.

(CROSSTALK)

ROPEIK: Pesticides on food. Even farm workers don't get that very much. And we get infinitely less levels on our food.

Child abductions. Do you know there are less than 60 per year kids abducted by strangers who don't get home? That's not what you'd think from the news. On the other hand there are risks that we should be more afraid of that we're not...

COOPER: Like what?

ROPEIK: ... because they don't hit these fear buttons. Medical errors in hospitals kill as many as 100,000 people a year. And that's nurses not washing their hands and pharmacy orders not being written right, not the wrong leg being cut off.

Skin cancer. Skin cancer causes -- there's 1.3 million cases of skin cancer in America a year from the sun. And 9,800 of those people die from untreatable melanoma.

Food poisoning. It's the highest risk in our book. One in four Americans will get food poisoning next year and 5,500 of them will die.

COOPER: Very briefly, what's your advice? How do you overcome unreasonable fear?

ROPEIK: You can't undo the emotions but you should go get the facts. Do your homework. Don't take other people's word for it that it's big or small. Be informed. Use our book, use other sources that you can trust. Get the facts about risk and you can balance the emotions and make more thoughtful, healthy choices.

COOPER: And the book is "Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe." David Ropeik, it is a fascinating book, an interesting look at risk. Thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired August 29, 2003 - 08:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What is your biggest fear factor getting SARS or the West Nile virus? Or with the anniversary of September 11 at hand, are you worried about another terrorist attack? In a new poll by CNN,"USA Today" and Gallup, 54 percent of those surveyed said they think a terrorist attack in the U.S. is likely in the next few weeks.
But our next guest says you might be concerned about the wrong things. He is David Ropeik, he's the co-author of "Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding Really What's Really Safe." He's with us this morning from our Boston bureau.

David, thanks very much for being with us. The book is just fascinating. It's all about risk analysis. You basically write in the book that the perceptions of risk, or our perceptions of risk really don't mirror reality. In what way?

DAVID ROPEIK, AUTHOR: Let me ask you a real quick quiz. Do you think cell phones and driving is a serious threat to public health? Just off the top of your head, yes or no?

COOPER: Because you mentioned it, I'll say no. But if you look at the media you would certainly think it's a major concern.

ROPEIK: Right. Or pesticides or DDT. If you ask most people they would either raise their hand or not, and there's no right or wrong. But who among them would have all the facts to decide?

Well, when you don't have all the facts and you want to survive, that's what risk perception is. You use what you can. And we have ancient kind of affective emotional patterns of identifying risks that are scarier or not and we use them more than the facts.

Like, we're afraid of a shark attack even though we know it's a low risk, because it's a really nasty way to die. Well that's part of why we fear cancer more than heart disease, even though heart disease kills one-third more people in America every year...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: So it's the perception of the risk, and the perception of the pain that might be associated with the risk that colors the way we see the risk?

ROPEIK: That's one factor. We're less afraid of risk when we have control, like when we're driving a car. Move over to the passenger seat and all of a sudden you're a front seat driver. Control makes us more or less afraid. Do we trust the government to protect us? If we trust them we'll be less afraid, et cetera.

Risk has 12, 15, 20 characteristics that we use more than the facts to decide.

COOPER: Let's look at some of the things a lot of people worry about but they're actually very low risk. Let's -- you talk about nuclear radiation for instance.

ROPEIK: Nuclear radiation, the total number of people affected in terms of cancer by Chernobyl, the worst meltdown in release we could have according to the U.N. is 1,800 people. That's a risk. But relatively low.

(CROSSTALK)

ROPEIK: Pesticides on food. Even farm workers don't get that very much. And we get infinitely less levels on our food.

Child abductions. Do you know there are less than 60 per year kids abducted by strangers who don't get home? That's not what you'd think from the news. On the other hand there are risks that we should be more afraid of that we're not...

COOPER: Like what?

ROPEIK: ... because they don't hit these fear buttons. Medical errors in hospitals kill as many as 100,000 people a year. And that's nurses not washing their hands and pharmacy orders not being written right, not the wrong leg being cut off.

Skin cancer. Skin cancer causes -- there's 1.3 million cases of skin cancer in America a year from the sun. And 9,800 of those people die from untreatable melanoma.

Food poisoning. It's the highest risk in our book. One in four Americans will get food poisoning next year and 5,500 of them will die.

COOPER: Very briefly, what's your advice? How do you overcome unreasonable fear?

ROPEIK: You can't undo the emotions but you should go get the facts. Do your homework. Don't take other people's word for it that it's big or small. Be informed. Use our book, use other sources that you can trust. Get the facts about risk and you can balance the emotions and make more thoughtful, healthy choices.

COOPER: And the book is "Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe." David Ropeik, it is a fascinating book, an interesting look at risk. Thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com