THE PALING PERSPECTIVE SCALE©

    (Click here for larger image.)
    What's the Bottom Line the Public Wants to Know About?
    Our scale lets ordinary citizens cut through all the technical stuff and constantly focus on the universal, bottom-line question that always concerns them, yet is rarely answered:

    What are the odds that this supposed hazard will affect me or my family in any one year or in my lifetime?

    Unless you challenge them, the experts don't help you put risks into context. They measure chemical risks, environmental risks, nuclear risks and medical risks in different, confusing units. Our scale always uses the same bottom-line numbers (extending from -6 to +6 ) in a way similar to the Richter Scale for earthquakes. It compares risks just the way "we the people" do.     		We chose the 1-in-1-million point as our "Effective Zero" point because U.S. government agencies consider risks below this point too small to regulate - hence, effectively zero.

    By looking at the top of The Paling Perspective Scale, you can see that these "bottom-line numbers" relate to the different odds: from one in one, to one in a trillion! In other words, this one scale covers any- thing that possibly could affect you or your family!

    The further to the right you move away from the effective zero point, the likelihood of some risk becomes ever greater. At +6, the odds represent 1 in 1 or absolute certainty. The more you move to the left of center, the risks become rapidly more minuscule.



    John Paling & Co., Inc.
    5822 N.W. 91st Boulevard
    Gainesville, FL 32653
    (352) 377-2142
    E-mail: info@johnpaling.com

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