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[Name of the Writer]

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Movie Review: Twelve Years as a Slave

Introduction

The assignment discusses the issue of how risk should be discussed and dealt with in

public policy issues. Specifically, how should be risk discussed in areas such environment and

public policy, and how people can be made aware that the risks they are taking in everyday life

are greater than those risks that are usually highlighted in the media.

Discussion

Each day billions of people across globe eat food, consume medicine and take part in the

consumption of technology as well. However, seldom do people reflect on the risks associated

with these things, not only risk associated with personal risk, but risk to our immediate

environment as well. In recent years, the health and as well as environmental impacts of the

above-mentioned products has become a serious issue, and it has sort of become an agenda to

mitigate and minimize risk and ensure safety and usability of these products.

It has also become critical to highlight these issues because majority of people are simply

not aware of the processes through which the food they eat or any other product that they use go

through because the production of these goes through several stages where numerous chemical

reactions take place that can and usually do contaminate the products that we use. In addition to
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this, majority of the people are not aware of the serious consequences of everyday products that

we use. For example, there are certain chemicals in Johnson & Johnson’s shampoo that are

linked to causing cancer (CBSNews, 2019). In addition to this, there are numerous household

product that are linked to cancer and their use increases the probability of developing cancer.

Some of these products include; Non-Stick Cookware, Artificial Sweeteners, Air Fresheners,

Commercial Cleaning products and Anti-Bacterial products. Masses are simply not aware of

what kind of effects can these household products can have on their health. Another alarming

example is the widespread use of microwave for cooking, it has been found from numerous

researches that microwave cooking is also hazardous to health and causes cancer if frequency of

use is above than average (Dadd 45).

Not only the everyday products are harmful for our health, but they have detrimental

effect on the environment as well. Take the example of plastic, a product which apparently does

not cause any harm is responsible for the destruction of oceanic life and leads to death of

hundreds and thousands of wildlife animals because of bio-accumulation of plastic inside them.

Another detrimental effect of plastic is that even if it burned with the intention of destroying or

disposing, it leads to contamination of the air because burning plastic releases various poisonous

and toxic chemicals. And even of labor is hired to recycle plastic, then they too are at the risk of

developing serious adverse health conditions because of inhalation of poisonous toxins (Ott and

John 32).

One of the ways in which people can be made aware of the harmful and life threatening

effects of every-day products is that companies involved in the manufacturing and production of

these products should be required to disclose the types of chemicals that they use and how the
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use of those chemicals can lead to intended side effects. When it comes to these issues shaping

public opinions and perceptions is really critical. According to Food Protection Organizations

“Public understanding of risks as well as benefits associated with food production and

chemicals is an area in which efforts to reach a mutually acceptable consensus have been

largely unsuccessful.” (Food Protection Organization 11).

According to a research conducted by Petrun et al. suggests that one of the ways in which

public understanding could be improved and that more awareness could be created with regards

to risk posed by every-day products not just to humans but to the overall environment is as

follows. The research points out that consumer often overlook certain risks associated with

products because of other positive features of the product, i.e. there is a willingness to accept

overlook risk because of the perceived benefits. In order for educators and health practitioners to

enlighten and make consumes aware of the potential risks the priority system of consumers that

they apply to purchases of food and products needs to be understood (Petrun et al. 13)

Another effective way to increase awareness is by successfully communicating with

consumers, especially, those organizations that are involved in health communications. These

sort of organizations need to develop specific materials and target various segments of markets to

make sure that their message in heard by all factions in society. One of the major benefits of this

sort of communications is that it will entail the influx of positive information regarding majority

of the products and more focus will be on refuting misinformation regarding benefits of the

products and more about the sort of harm they are capable of doing (Petrun et al. 13).
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Conclusion

The assignment discussed the issue of risks associated with consumer product and their

effects on human health and environment. The assignment discussed various products that have

the potential to cause serious harm to humans and as well as the environment and how public

perception and opinions with regards to risk of these products be altered and people can be made

aware of the risks.

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Work Cited

"Group: Johnson's Baby Shampoo A Cancer Risk." Cbsnews.com. N. p., 2019. Web. 12

Feb. 2019.

Dadd, Debra Lynn. Home Safe Home: Protecting Yourself and Your Family from

Everyday Toxics and Harmful Household Products. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2014.

Foodprotection.org. N. p., 2019. Web. 12 Feb. 2019.

Ott, Wayne R., and John W. Roberts. "Everyday exposure to toxic pollutants." Scientific

American 278.2 (1998): 86-91.

Petrun, E. L., Flood, A., Sellnow, T. L., Edge, M. S., & Burns, K. (2015). Shaping health

perceptions: Communicating effectively about chemicals in food. Food Protection Trends, 35(1),

24-45.