Rachel's Precaution Reporter #15

"Foresight and Precaution, in the News and in the World"

Wednesday, December 7, 2005
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Table of Contents Edition

National Conference on Precaution June 9-11, 2006 in Baltimore
  Save the date!  The First National Conference on Precaution
  will convene in Baltimore June 9-11, 2006 -- to build a stronger 
  movement to prevent harm, not merely "manage" it.  We'll see 
  you there!
Act on Early Warnings: Louisville Charter Background Paper #4
  The final draft of the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals has now 
  been published, along with six supporting "background papers." This 
  is paper #4.  Hats off to Kathy Curtis of Citizens' Environmental 
  Coalition (Albany, N.Y.) and Gregg Small of the Washington Toxics 
  Coalition (Seattle) who rode herd as dozens of participants spent 
  more than a year devising, honing and polishing these important 
  policy ideas.
Update: New Mexico InterAgency Precautionary Principle Task Force
  New Mexico state government has created a Precautionary Principle
  Task Force, which will issue a report with recommendations in May, 
  2006.  Precaution marches on...
Recycle Batteries -- or Else
  Precautionary action doesn't always come wrapped in a "precautionary"
  label.  The concept of "extended producer responsibility" requires 
  manufacturers to "own" their products forever, which gives them a big 
  incentive to make products as harmless as possible.
French President Chirac: Biodiversity Requires Precaution
  "The current rate of extinction is estimated to be up to a thousand 
  times higher than normal... Our generation is probably the last with 
  the power to stop this destruction before we reach a point of no 
  return...."

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  Rachel's Precaution Reporter offers news, views and practical
  examples of the Precautionary Principle, or Foresight Principle, in
  action. The Precautionary Principle is a modern way of making
  decisions, to minimize harm. Rachel's Precaution Reporter tries to
  answer such questions as, Why do we need the precautionary
  principle? Who is using precaution? Who is opposing precaution?

  We often include attacks on the precautionary principle because we  
  believe it is essential for advocates of precaution to know what
  their adversaries are saying, just as abolitionists in 1830 needed
  to know the arguments used by slaveholders.

  Rachel's Precaution Reporter is published as often as necessary to
  provide readers with up-to-date coverage of the subject.

  As you come across stories that illustrate the precautionary 
  principle -- or the need for the precautionary principle -- 
  please Email them to us at rpr@rachel.org.

  Editors:
  Peter Montague - peter@rachel.org
  Tim Montague   -   tim@rachel.org
  
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