Record Display for the EPA National Library Catalog

RECORD NUMBER: 28 OF 94

Main Title Focus on babies : evidence on parental attitudes towards pesticide risks /
Author Maguire, Kelly B.
Other Authors
Author Title of a Work
Owens, Nichole.
Simon, Nathalie B.
Publisher National Center for Environmental Economics,
Year Published 2004
OCLC Number 57244852
Subjects Environmental risk assessment--United States ; Health risk assessment--United States
Internet Access
Description Access URL
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/WPNumberNew/2004-02?OpenDocument
Holdings
Library Call Number Additional Info Location Last
Modified
Checkout
Status
EJBR EPAAUX HC79.E5N386 2004-02 Headquarters Library/Washington,DC 04/21/2020
Collation 29 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 28 cm.
Notes
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents Notes
Studies that estimate the benefits of reduced environmental exposure typically assume that individuals know the true magnitude of the risk reduction. This issue has not been resolved with respect to adult risk reductions and becomes even more complicated when considering risk reductions to small children. We report results from focus groups with parents of small children regarding their risk perceptions over organic and conventional babyfood. Our results yield surprisingly consistent results between scientific and perceived risks. Previous literature reports a scientific risk reduction estimate of 1.98 per million, reflecting the reduced risk of death from cancer by avoiding pesticides in foods during the first year of life. The results from our focus groups show that parents estimate that the median risk reduction ranges from 1 to 8 per million, depending on specific demographic characteristics. Individuals with less than a four-year college degree provide the highest estimates, while women, those with more education and purchasers of organic babyfood provide lower estimates. We use these results to estimate parental willingness to pay for pesticide risk reductions to their children. Results show that parents in our focus groups who purchase organic babyfood express a value of a statistical cancer of approximately $9 million. These results provide a lower bound on the estimate for the value of reduced cancer risk from pesticide exposure in the first year of life.