Health professionals and the public have very different views of the major health scares of the age, according to a study published today.
In the UK doctors are most worried about the risk of epidemics from diseases such as swine flu, bird flu and SARS, researchers found.
But the public worry more about the risks from trans-fats and the chemical BPA found in plastic.
Meanwhile doctors in both the UK and the USA remain highly dissatisfied with media reporting of health issues – while the public trust the media more than government statements, researchers found.
No more than 16% of Britons and Americas agree that their governments keep them well-informed about health scares – but in the UK 38% are happy with media reporting.
This falls to just 17% of British doctors and 22% of US doctors satisfied with media reporting.
The findings come from a survey conducted by Research Now involving some 2,000 members of the public and 600 doctors across the two countries.
Ben Hogg, of Research Now, said: "The gap between the public’s perceived danger of health scares and that of health care professionals shows the importance of investigating the opinions of both parties.
"Our study found that there is also clearly an opportunity for the media and governments to improve the way they communicate to the general public to ensure an understanding of genuine risk in the future."
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