By day, Roger Highfield is a mild-mannered science journalist, author and broadcaster. But under that crisp white lab coat beats the heart of his alter ego, Boffin...

Precautionary Principle

This has been adopted for regulation at EU level since the early 1990s. But academic studies have revealed around 19 different formulations of this supposed "principle", according to the King’s Institute for Risk Management, London. Nor is there an explanation of how it should be applied. In contrast, at least I think I understand what we mean by taking a precautionary approach when, as the UK Government puts it, "the scientific evidence is incomplete or inconclusive, and there is the possibility of severe and irreversible consequences." But as for the "precautionary principle", let’s ignore it and go back to a good old fashioned discussion of risks and benefits. At least we know what that means.

mugshot

mad boffin

what makes my blood boil...

Evidence-Based Medicine

For a long time I was one of those naïve twits who thought that all medicine was evidence based. Then, in 1993, I read a report by the Advisory Council on Science and Technology that called on surgeons to be scientific. One surgeon even declared that he was proud that he never read any journals.

The fact that we are still banging on about the need for more evidence-based medicine shows that doctors still have some ...

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Thanks to

Simon Singh
Jad Marrouche
Raj Persaud
David Johnson
Brian Millar