Measure of Risk

Abstract

This symposium aims to discuss how to measure risk across some research fields. Risk is usually quantified by probability, a loss of time and a ratio with respect to the reference. These measures have been used for some purposes. Cancer risk assessment uses relative risk for estimating the association between exposure and health effects. We can know the absolute risk reduction of a targeted health effect, and also risk trade-off problem in chemical management. However, people perceive risks by not only intuition but also logical thinking. A time scale is an important element to express the risk from the viewpoint of human perception. This symposium discussed the need of risk measure fitted to the purpose and then emphasized consideration of not only social aspects but also psychology for risk comparison.