Are there any filings that don't state such risk factors? Seems fairly boilerplate, no?
Sometimes these factors are helpful. Sometimes they seem to represent the product of a particularly imaginative lawyer or accountant. RSA once had a risk factor stating that if an efficient means of factoring primes were developed their business might suffer.[2]
[1]http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/17/229.503
[2]http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/932064/00009501350200... search "prime"