The Precautionary Principle: Protecting Public Health and the Environment1

Ted Schettler, Katherine Barrett, Carolyn Raffensperger Science and Environmental Health Network The precautionary principle is a guide to public policy decision making (Raffensperger and Tickner 1999, Schettler et al. 2002). It responds to the realization that humans often cause serious and widespread harm to people, wildlife, and the general environment. According to the precautionary principle, precautionary action should be undertaken when there are credible threats of harm, despite residual scientific uncertainty about cause and effect relationships. History of the Precautionary Principle: The term "precautionary principle" comes from the German "Vorsorgeprinzip"-- literally, "forecaring principle." Its origins can be traced to German clean air environmental policies of the 1970's that called for Vorsorge, or prior care, foresight, and forward planning to prevent harmful effects of pollution (Boehmer-Christiansen S. 1994). The precautionary principle has since been invoked in numerous international declarations, treaties, and conventions, and has been incorporated into the national environmental policies of several countries. It has been applied to specific decisions on food safety, protection of freshwater systems, land development proposals, fisheries management, and the release of genetically modified organisms, among others. Formulations of the precautionary principle One formulation of the precautionary principle is found in the 1992 Rio Declaration of nations participating in the United Nations Environment Program treaty negotiations: Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation (Rio Declaration 1992) (Shabecoff 1996). In 1998 a group of scientists, environmentalists, government researchers, and labor representatives from the United States, Canada, and Europe convened at the Wingspread Conference in Wisconsin to discuss ways to formalize and implement the precautionary principle. They formulated the precautionary principle as: "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the 1/26/13 Protecting Our Health "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically." (Wingspread Statement, 1998) The precautionary principle says we should attempt to anticipate and avoid damages before they occur or detect them early. However formulated, each version of the precautionary principle is based on underlying values and three core elements: potential harm—predicting and avoiding harm, or identifying it early, should be a primary concern when contemplating an action; scientific uncertainty—the kind and degree of scientific uncertainty surrounding a proposed activity should be explicitly addressed; and precautionary action Why the Precautionary Principle? Humans have transformed land, sea, and air, dominating the earth’s ecosystems in unprecedented ways (McCally 2002). Although many of these impacts were or could have been predicted, often they were