In recent years a number of scholars have analyzed the management of BSE, also known as 'mad cow disease'. The BSE crisis is regarded by many as an example of the failure of officials and politicians to handle risk situations. Yet, BSE is also characterized by a unique trait, that is, the infectious agent that causes it. Thus far, no one has paid attention to the fact that BSE and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathy's (TSEs) are allegedly caused by a novel agent - a prion - distinct from all other known infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. The prion hypothesis was...

Inhalational anaesthesia was the first medical and scientific technique to become a legitimate means of pain relief. Its introduction to medicine in 1846 sparked one of the most intense public debates of the period. It challenged religious principles and at its center posed one of medicine's fundamental questions: risk versus benefit of medical intervention. This book explains how the introduction of anaesthesia intertwines with a wide variety of other nineteenth century medical and cultural issues: the growing elitism of surgery, the emerging professionalism of medicine, the popular and...

A unique exploration of the changing ideas about the place of voluntarism and health care within society in Britain since the 1960s. By considering the work of voluntary organisations with illegal drug users, the authors provide a lens through which wider developments in the relationship between the state and civil society are examined.