Editing 79-12-B8 (section)

=== Transcript ===
Would you pay $200 for possible protection from a cause of death which kills
one out of every 7,000 Americans each year? I'm talking about automobile accidents.
The federal government has decided that you will. It has ordered American automakers
to include airbags as standard safety equipment on all new cars, beginning
in 1984. But polling research conducted by Gene Pokorny for "Public Opinion"
magazine indicates that the majority of Americans oppose airbags. The costs are not
worth the benefits.

We are faced with questions such as this every day. Recognizing that there
are risks inherent in modern living, Mr. Pokorny set out to discover just how much
risk Americans are willing to take in order to enjoy all the benefits of an industrialized
society. His findings are interesting.

Pokorny's first discovery is that the environmentalists have apparently left a
deep imprint on many Americans. You could say they have succeeded in scaring the
majority into believing that the dangers to a person's health and safety are greater
today than fifty years ago. They believe this despite clear advancements in medicine,
transportation and occupational safety, and longer life expectancies.

However, while a majority feel that environmental factors have placed their lives
in greater danger, an equally sizable majority believe that the benefits they receive
from modern life are equal to or greater than the risks.

And Americans are sharply divided over whose responsibility it is to reduce risks
such as pollution, travel hazards or a potentially harmful product. Forty percent say
that the government should play an active role in reducing these risks through regulation.
Of late, the federal government has certainly taken this forty percent up on
their belief. But forty-five percent say it is the responsibility of the individual--
not government--to make himself aware of potential hazards and to make intelligent
choices, balancing risks versus benefits.

Pokorny discovered that most Americans have a rule of thumb by which they determine
whether or not the government should take charge in reducing an environmental
risk. In cases such as the use of airbags or saccharin, most Americans believe that
the federal government has no business making consumer choices for them. But Americans
are more likely to accept some kind of government watch-dog role in controlling
potential hazards over which the individual has less control--for example, air
pollution.

Pokorny found that the great majority of Americans look at life realistically:
seventy-two percent believe that no matter what we do, it is just not possible to
create a society without risk. But more interestingly, even if it were possible,
about forty percent say that they wouldn't want to live in a risk-free society anyway.
The costs would be too great in comfort and personal freedom. A society without risks
would most likely be one without opportunities, too. 

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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