One of the clearest examples of a technological system, in the sense that Ellul discussed it, is contemporary biomedical health care. The foundation of technological systems is technique: efficient methods for achieving isolated goals. However, the goal of health care should be to achieve health in the full sense of wholeness. Traditional healing systems addressed heath in this sense, but biomedicine cannot; attempting to use the techniques of traditional systems without the accompanying culture ruptures those systems. Using the contemporary epidemic of chronic noncommunicable diseases as an example, this article attempts to expose the limitations of a technical approach, as well as the limitations of the methodology of risk analysis. (Contains 4 notes.)