by LHC Safety Review

COLOGNE, February 28 - As the world's largest atom smasher prepares to restart after a two-month break, a German court has called for the German Government to convene a conference on the collider's potential risks.

After an intensive three-hour court hearing in Cologne, the Presiding Judge, Hans-Martin Niemeier, declared, "The Court has expressed its opinion that it should be possible to discuss the various safety aspects that have been the subject of the two safety reports from 2003 and 2008, within the framework of a safety conference."

The hearing featured a debate between Germany's leading critic of the LHC, Prof. Otto E. Rössler, and two scientists representing CERN, Dr. Voss and Dr. Ringwald. CERN contended that it had proven that the Geneva-based Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is completely safe. Critics of the collider, on the other hand, pointed to flaws and contradictions in CERN's safety arguments for the possible production of black holes and exotic new forms of matter.

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