>1) I find numbers like “3-fold increased risk” a bit meaningless without knowing the baseline risk.

Yeah, I don't see this talked about enough. If it's three fold from 33% baseline to 99%, thats a big deal. If it's a three fold increase from 0.000000033% to 0.000000099%, even the new number is minuscule.

It's why, say, blue M&M's increasing risk of cancer by 75% isn't necessarily as big a problem as it sounds.