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Table of Contents Edition

Styrofoam Food Packaging Banned in Oakland, California
  The city of Oakland, California has banned the use of styrofoam
  packaging for take-out food. Roughly 100 other U.S. cities have taken
  similar steps to avoid the creation of unmanageable and unnecessary
  plastic wastes.
Mendocino County, California Adopts Precautionary Principle
  Mendocino County, California, has adopted a precautionary principle
  policy to guide governmental decisions. Two county departments will be
  selected to begin implementing the ordinance.
Europe's Proposed Chemicals Law -- REACH -- Hopelessly Weakened?
  For several years, the European Union (EU) has been trying to pass
  a law, called REACH, that would require industrial chemicals to be
  safety-tested before they are put on the market. The slogan for REACH
  is, "No data, no market." The global chemical industry has bitterly
  opposed REACH, and it now looks as if the chemical corporations have
  succeeded in weakening the proposal substantially.
Environment Linked to More Than One-Third of All Children's Disease
  The potential for preventing human disease world-wide is enormous:
  "The evidence shows that environmental risk factors play a role in
  more than 80% of the diseases regularly reported by the World Health
  Organization. Globally, nearly one quarter of all deaths and of the
  total disease burden can be attributed to the environment. In
  children, however, environmental risk factors can account for slightly
  more than one-third of the disease burden."
Untreated Social Ills Make for Higher Medical Costs
  In Canada, a former minister of health and welfare says that nation
  would do far better by spending less on health care and more on
  keeping people healthy in the first place, preventing disease instead
  of trying to cure it.

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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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  To start your own free Email subscription to Rachel's Precaution
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  In response, you will receive an Email asking you to confirm that
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