Abstract

KIE: The author, a member of the Department of Community Health at the University of Dublin, argues that "the issues of preventive medicine have little to do with science, relative risks, and risk factors" and "could be more profitably debated within the framework to which they belong--ethics, politics, and vested interests." He maintains that constant "health-promotion" programs, scare tactics, and moralizing are counterproductive and encourage fatalism. Skrabanek finds longevity to be a mixed blessing and agrees with the paradox that preventive measures of large benefit to the community offer little to each participating individual.