An editorial in Science for 30 September considers the significance of risk in actions over which decisions must be taken in modern societies.Choice of whether or not to take a particular line of action is usually decided after a comparison of possible or probable risks and benefits.If the latter prevail,a project goes forward.But things are in practice far more complicated.There may be alternative ways of gaining the same benefit and,in that event,the basis of choice must have reference to a comparison of the probable risks associated with the alternatives.In industrialised democracies people and governments are usually averse to risk,and in legal and administrative circles greater safety is preferred to lesser,and definitions are vague,such as"reasonable certainty of no harm"or"adequate margin of safety",whatever those phrases may mean.
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