ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the sociological interest by describing some global risks that could lead the society-sustaining world to perish, or at least be dramatically altered to the detriment of society. The European Union Veterinary Standing Committee then examined the scientific evidence the British government had used to conclude an extremely low risk, and recommended a total ban on the export of British beef anywhere in the world. Risks of contracting diseases have led to calls for more intrusive surveillance of travellers, hence loss of freedoms. As nature develops resistance to modern remedies, humans are thrown back to ancient ones, such as places in the world where travellers dare not go and techniques of quarantine and amputation. Discoveries of new ways to manipulate nature take place within a social and a natural context, and then they revolutionize that context. The concept "risk society" and the theory of reflexive modernization within which it is embedded are not wrong but they are incomplete.
