Interrogating our obsession with risk:

“Why are we so obsessed with risk? From global warming to mobile phones, from crime to child safety, from the business world to the military, precaution and pre-emption have become the buzzwords of our time. We sometimes seem to be organising society around the grandmotherly maxim of ‘better safe than sorry’. What are the consequences of this overbearing concern with risks?

On Friday 9 May 2003, a London conference entitled ‘Panic Attack:

Interrogating Our Obsession with Risk’, produced by the online publication

spiked (www.spiked-online.com) in association with the online publication

Techcentralstation Europe and the Royal Institution of Great Britain, will

bring together an international audience to assess the spread of risk

aversion into ever-more spheres of life. With discussions on everything from children and obesity to the risks of war to business after Enron, the conference will interrogate our obsession with risk – and put the case for a more rational approach to scientific and political issues, and matters of everyday life.”