An Evidence Based Perspective on Dog
Bites
An Evidence Based Perspective on Dog Bites
Ron Law
Beyond Alternative Solutions
The chance of being killed by an animal,
including dogs, is so small that the risk is within de minimis thresholds and
does not register on any public health Richter Scale," says risk and
policy analyst Ron Law.
Ron Law has undertaken extensive comparative
risk analysis of everyday causes of death in a number of countries, including
New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA.
"Whilst dog attacks are very tragic, and make for very
emotive television, and give well meaning bureaucrats the chance to justify
their existence, the chance of being killed by a dog is less than the chance of
being killed by lightning," says Ron Law, of risk management consultancy,
Beyond Alternative Solutions.
By comparison to the 0.1 killed by dog attacks each year, on
average, 12 people die each year riding bicycles (120x higher risk), 10 people
die each year while fishing, 8 die while scuba diving, 7 die due to sports
injuries, and over twenty people have died this past year while enjoying the
beautiful high country in the South Island.
It's important to keep a level head when
discussing risk in society, apply common sense and, in this case, to forget
about any precautionary principle. "I'd be much, much more concerned about
the known and very high risks associated with medical injury whilst visiting
the hospital to get a bite treated,"says Ron Law.
Graphs showing the relative risks associated
with every day activities can be found for
New Zealand
http://www.healthyoptions.co.nz/relative%20bubbles.pdf
Canada
http://www.healthyoptions.co.nz/aRelative%20risk%20Boeing.pdf
Australia
http://www.healthyoptions.co.nz/Australia.pdf
USA/Europe