European companies are finding it increasingly difficult to convert research into innovation as politicians turn to the precautionary principle and Europeans reject science as a ‘force of evil’, argues David Zaruk, an environmental health risk consultant. “Science is paying a big price in Europe because of the precautionary principle, both in terms of lost opportunities for innovation and loss of trust in science,” said Zaruk, who is also a senior research associate at the Institute for European Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. According to him, scientific exploration has become extremely difficult in the EU, research is not encouraged and researchers are now held guilty until proven innocent. “Increasingly, facts don’t matter very much,” he said, claiming that despite its goal of becoming a knowledge-based society, Europe is “more and more an influence-based society” in which science is under attack from “eco-religious fundamentalists.” More here.