One of the most damaging ideas in modern risk communication is that hazard equals risk. IARC helped popularize this confusion. A hazard tells us what could cause harm. A risk tells us what is actually likely to cause harm at real-world exposure levels. Those are not the same thing. Yet for years, hazard classifications have been reported as if they were measures of real-world danger. The consequences have been enormous: • Public confusion. • Sensational headlines. • Multi-billion-dollar lawsuits. • Erosion of trust in regulatory science. And when everything looks dangerous, the public loses the ability to distinguish genuine risks from theoretical ones. Good science requires both hazard identification and risk assessment. Ignoring either one leads to bad decisions. The challenge is that only one of them tends to make headlines.