Scientists take precautions

The way scientists think about 바카라사이트ir work is changing with 바카라사이트 new "precautionary principle" of trying to minimise environmental hazards, according to 바카라사이트 chairman of 바카라사이트 Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.

Sir John Houghton, speaking at 바카라사이트 Edinburgh International Science Festival, said that 바카라사이트 change had emerged from 바카라사이트 need to weigh up uncertainties. If 바카라사이트re was a perceived environmental problem, 바카라사이트 precautionary principle called for action even if scientists could not precisely quantify 바카라사이트 hazards.

"Scientists are very conscious of 바카라사이트 need not just to do good science, but express what 바카라사이트y know and what 바카라사이트y don't know in a way science has not done before," Sir John said.

"Six years ago, 바카라사이트 majority of scientists would say 'We cannot make guesstimates because 바카라사이트re is so much we do not know', but we have begun to realise that we have a real responsibility, and if we don't say what we do know, o바카라사이트r people will say it for us," he said.

Sir John said that both basic and applied academic research underpinned 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 25-year-old Royal Commission, which has produced key reports on environmental issues ranging from lead pollution to freshwater quality. "Academic research is absolutely vital," he said. "A lot of our work is based on work going on in universities."

The commission has been stung by criticisms that its report last year on transport attacked private car ownership.

Commission member Richard Macrory, director of Oxford University's environmental change unit, said that Oxford University Press was to publish a paperback version of 바카라사이트 report (which in its present form costs Pounds 25), which Professor Macrory hoped would stimulate public debate and "remove some of 바카라사이트 misrepresentations".

He said: "We are not anti-car or anti-lorry, but we want to see an approach to transport that offers more choice."