Precautionary Tales

Life is a
contact sport.

If you don't play, you can't win. Reining in experimentation carries the risk of not making life-enhancing breakthroughs.

This site is mostly a look at the dangers of the precautionary principle, and unfounded panics, through science and health news stories.


Archives


SOME ARTICLES BY ROB LYONS
A waste of time
Recycling household rubbish is a moral exercise with little social or environmental benefit.
A poultry problem?
In dealing with avian flu, don't look to SARS for a model.
Start spreading the blues
New year's eve in New York - how risk-aversion turns pleasure into a chore.
Global warnings
It's the political significance of the Kyoto Protocol that should bother us, not its legal standing.
Weighing the arguments
Obesity is not the public health enemy that many claim.
Ship of doom?
Why the passengers aboard Aurora have been left all at sea.
Shooting the messenger
A King's Fund report one-sidedly blames media bias for health panics.
Thinking outside the lunchbox
The Food Standards Agency should not be dispensing recipes for children's snacks and sandwiches.
A viral hurricane?
West Nile Virus is unlikely to make it up the Thames.
Too many people?
A new campaign for population control in Britain is based on a degraded view of humans.
Hot air
The UK government's commitment to wind power is an expensive gesture, at odds with the nation's needs.
Weight watchers
Greg Critser's Fat Land blows the obesity issue out of proportion.
Recycling religion
Why we should take morality out of waste management.
Happy New Fear
The things that scared us silly in 2002.
Putting Zambia through the mill
Europe's green prejudices have caused the Zambian government to reject GM food aid.
Mad cow Japanic
The Japanese BSE scare seems even more irrational than the British version.
Bar, car, black sheep
Drink driving might be antisocial, but the UK government's response is out of all proportion.
SHARED READING
The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine
by James Le Fanu
 
OTHER SITES
spiked
My day job: website with the mere ambition to change the world
Brendan O'Neill
spiked colleague and A-list blogger. Honest.
JunkScience
Steve Milloy's rolling log of science news and sceptical commentaries
Social Issues Research Centre
A sceptical view of health panics in the UK
Numberwatch
Takes a critical look at our daily diet of statistics.
Sense About Science
A group of scientists and others trying to counter anti-scientific prejudices on MMR, GM and other issues.
 
CONTACT
email Rob
 
Rob's homepage
 
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ARCHIVE PAGES


03/16/2003 - 03/22/2003
03/23/2003 - 03/29/2003
03/30/2003 - 04/05/2003
04/06/2003 - 04/12/2003
04/13/2003 - 04/19/2003
04/20/2003 - 04/26/2003
04/27/2003 - 05/03/2003
05/04/2003 - 05/10/2003
05/11/2003 - 05/17/2003
05/18/2003 - 05/24/2003
05/25/2003 - 05/31/2003
06/01/2003 - 06/07/2003
06/08/2003 - 06/14/2003
06/15/2003 - 06/21/2003
06/22/2003 - 06/28/2003
06/29/2003 - 07/05/2003
07/06/2003 - 07/12/2003
07/13/2003 - 07/19/2003
07/20/2003 - 07/26/2003
07/27/2003 - 08/02/2003
08/03/2003 - 08/09/2003
08/10/2003 - 08/16/2003
08/17/2003 - 08/23/2003
08/24/2003 - 08/30/2003
08/31/2003 - 09/06/2003
09/07/2003 - 09/13/2003
09/14/2003 - 09/20/2003
09/21/2003 - 09/27/2003
09/28/2003 - 10/04/2003
10/05/2003 - 10/11/2003
10/12/2003 - 10/18/2003
10/19/2003 - 10/25/2003
10/26/2003 - 11/01/2003
11/02/2003 - 11/08/2003
11/09/2003 - 11/15/2003
11/23/2003 - 11/29/2003
11/30/2003 - 12/06/2003
12/07/2003 - 12/13/2003
12/14/2003 - 12/20/2003
12/21/2003 - 12/27/2003
01/11/2004 - 01/17/2004
01/18/2004 - 01/24/2004
01/25/2004 - 01/31/2004
02/01/2004 - 02/07/2004
02/08/2004 - 02/14/2004
02/15/2004 - 02/21/2004
02/22/2004 - 02/28/2004
02/29/2004 - 03/06/2004
03/07/2004 - 03/13/2004
03/14/2004 - 03/20/2004
03/21/2004 - 03/27/2004
03/28/2004 - 04/03/2004
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05/02/2004 - 05/08/2004
05/09/2004 - 05/15/2004
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