ESTIMATION AND TOLERANCE OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISK: THE INFLUENCE OF RISK CHARACTERISTICS, INFORMAL JUDGEMENTS, ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES, AND FACTUAL KNOWLEDGE (POLICY, QUESTIONNAIRE, POLLUTION)

Persons attending hearings regarding arsenic emission standards for the ASARCO smelter in Tacoma, Washington were given a questionnaire designed to identify factors related to estimates and tolerance of the risks posed by the emissions. It was estimated that between 70 to 90 percent of the area residents who attended completed the questionnaire, and the responses of 347 subjects were analyzed.; Results indicate that informal risk estimates, risk tolerance, and attitudes toward pollution controls were closely related to judgements of the relative benefits versus harmful effects of the smelter, acceptance or denial of personal vulnerability to the risks, opinions about the voluntariness of exposure to the emissions, general environmental attitudes, and family member employment at the smelter. Significant, but relatively weak, relationships were found for demographic characteristics including direction of residence from the smelter, length of residence in the area, age, parental status, and personal health ratings. Factual knowledge of the formal risk estimates was significantly related to informal risk estimates and risk tolerance, but this relationship was not strong. Residential exposure to the emissions, as indicated by distance from the smelter, did not correlate significantly with informal estimates, tolerance or attitudes toward controls.