EXAMPLE 9 Asbestos in the schools

High exposure to asbestos is dangerous. Low exposure, such as that experienced by teachers and students in schools where asbestos is present in the insulation around pipes, is not very risky. The probability that a teacher who works for 30 years in a school with typical asbestos levels will get cancer from the asbestos is around 151,000,000. The risk of dying in a car accident during a lifetime of driving is about 15,0001,000,000. That is, driving regularly is about 1000 times more risky than teaching in a school where asbestos is present.

Risk does not stop us from driving. Yet the much smaller risk from asbestos launched massive cleanup campaigns and a federal requirement that every school inspect for asbestos and make the findings public.