. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Rachel's Precaution Reporter #43"Foresight and Precaution, in the News and in the World"Wednesday, June 21, 2006.............Printer-friendly versionwww.rachel.org -- To make a secure donation, click here. |
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Table of Contents Edition A California County Moves to Ban Genetically Engineered Crops Santa Cruz county (California) supervisors on June 20 unanimously adopted on "first reading" a "precautionary moratorium" on the use of genetically-engineered crops anywhere in the county. You can listen to the June 20 supervisors' meeting here and read a hefty set of background documents here. The "precautionary moratorium" ordinance is scheduled for a final vote by county supervisors in August. Some other Calfornia counties favor genetically-modified crops. In England, a Conservative Platform Will Include Precaution In England, environmental advisor Zac Goldsmith plans to press four themes in drafting the new conservative platform on green issues: energy efficiency; local food; less dependence on foreign oil; and the precautionary principle. He believes these are pragmatic goals, which fit right in with Conservative Party values. U.S. Department of Defense Adopts Precaution (Sort of) In some sense, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has taken a precautionary stance toward wind turbines that may interfere with aviation radar. Precaution helps you protect the things you care about, and if protecting aviation radar is your goal, precaution can help you achieve it. Of course fully precautionary action would start with a public process for deciding goals and examining all reasonable alternatives for achieving them, so the DoD stance on wind turbines is not precautionary in the classic meaning of the term. 11th Grade Class Studies Milk, Decides to Ban Gene Modifications After several days of discussion, the 11th-grade global studies class decided to follow the "precautionary principle," which guides policy in many European nations, and institute a worldwide moratorium on genetically modified (GM) foods until they could be proven safe, and to require labeling of any GM foods that were approved for consumption. Furthermore, the summit voted to take away the right of any person or corporation to patent food. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 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 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: To start your own free Email subscription to Rachel's Precaution Reporter send a blank Email to one of these addresses: Full HTML edition: join-rpr-html@gselist.org Table of Contents edition: join-rpr-toc@gselist.org In response, you will receive an Email asking you to confirm that you want to subscribe. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: |
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