GPs and the social amplification of BSE-related risk: An empirical study

Social studies of risk have consistently shown that physicians and health professionals are viewed by the general public as a trustworthy source of information and communication regarding risks. However, few if any empirical investigations have focused on the role physicians, particularly general practitioners (GPs), may play as a ‘social station’ in the processes of amplification or attenuation of risks to health that Kasperson et al described in their framework. The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether French GPs acted as amplifiers or attenuators in the BSE (‘mad cow disease’) crisis. A sample of 602 general practitioners completed a questionnaire aimed at assessing in a variety of ways their cognitive, affective and behavioural responses to BSE. Results show that, (1) GPs expressed moderate concern about BSE-related risks: Mad cow disease only ranked tenth in averaged ratings of 14 current risks to health. (2) However, about 90% of respondents reported having recommended one or several modifications in their patients' food habits. Remarkably, only 44% did the same at home. (3) By far the most common recommendation was to avoid organ meats from cattle, even though specified risk materials (which included some of those cuts) had been withdrawn from the market as early as April 1996. Such results point to potentially complex—perhaps even contradictory—responses to BSE from the GPs, with a clear dichotomy between reported private and professional behaviour. Our data suggest that social agents may act simultaneously as risk amplifiers and risk attenuators depending on the public towards which their communication was directed.