Rachel's Precaution Reporter #174, December 24, 2008

ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE

[Rachel's introduction: This excerpt from an early handbook on the precautionary principle summarizes the basic ideas of precaution.]

Essential components of the precautionary principle

Excerpted from Joel Tickner, Carolyn Raffensperger, and Nancy Myers, The Precautionary Principle in Action: A Handbook (Windsor, N.D.: Science and Environmental Health Network, no date [1998]), pgs. 4-5. See also Terra Bowling, Facing Uncertainty: Local Governments and the Precautionary Principle (National Sea Grant Law Center: Oxford, Miss.: no date [2008?].

** Taking precautionary action before scientific certainty of cause and effect. Most of the international treaties stating the precautionary principle incorporate it as a general duty on states [nations] to act under uncertainty. This provides a mechanism of accountability for preventing harm. General duties -- obligations to act in a certain way even in the absence of specific laws -- are not uncommon in the United States. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Act demands that an employer "furnish each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical injury."

** Setting goals. The precautionary principle encourages planning based on well-defined goals rather than on future scenarios and risk calculations that may be plagued by error and bias. For example, Sweden has set the goal of phasing out persistent and bioaccumulative substances in products by the year 2007. The government is now involving a variety of stakeholders in determining how to reach that goal. Sometimes called "backcasting" in contrast to the more usual "forecasting" of an uncertain future, this type of planning creates fewer miscalculations and spurs innovative solutions.

** Seeking out and evaluating alternatives. Rather than asking what level of contamination is safe or economically optimal, the precautionary approach asks how to reduce or eliminate the hazard and considers all possible means of achieving that goal, including forgoing the proposed activity. Needless to say, alternatives proposed to a potentially hazardous activity must be scrutinized as stringently as the activity itself.

** Shifting burdens of proof. Proponents of an activity should prove that their activity will not cause undue harm to human health or ecosystems. Those who have the power, control, and resources to act and prevent harm should bear that responsibility. This responsibility has several components:

++ Financial responsibility. Regulations alone are not likely to spur precautionary behavior on the part of governments or those who are proponents of a questionable activity. However, market incentives, such as requiring a bond for the worst possible consequences of an activity or liability for damages, will encourage companies to think about how to prevent impacts. Such assurance bonds are already used in construction projects as well as in Australia to minimize damage from development projects.

++ The duty to monitor, understand, investigate, inform, and act. Under a precautionary decision-making scheme, those undertaking potentially harmful activities would be required to routinely monitor their impacts (with possible third party verification), inform the public and authorities when a potential impact is found, and act upon that knowledge. Ignorance and uncertainty are no longer excuses for postponing actions to prevent harm.

** Developing more democratic and thorough decision-making criteria and methods. The precautionary principle requires a new way of thinking about decisions and weighing scientific and other evidence in the face of uncertainty. This type of precautionary decision-flow, addressing both new and existing activities, is described in a later section. Because difficult questions of causality are in essence policy decisions, potentially impacted publics must be involved in the decision process. Thus, structures to better involve the public in decision-making are required under a precautionary approach.