Precautionary principle

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Not just a river in Egypt

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A dirty dozen gems
The precautionary principle takes many forms. But in all of them the animating idea is that regulators should take steps to protect against potential harms, even if causal chains are unclear and even if we do not know the harms will come to fruition... [I]n its strongest forms, the precautionary principle is literally incoherent, and for one reason: There are risks on all sides of social situations. It is therefore paralysing; it forbids the very steps that it requires. Because risks are on all sides, the precautionary principle forbids action, inaction, and everything in between.
—Cass Sunstein[1]

The precautionary principle is the idea that when there is the chance of negative consequences from a new technology that the burden of proof lies with the inventors/implementers of the technology to prove that there are absolutely no negative consequences of implementing said technology. The principle is often cited by anti-science and/or environmental activists when there is a perceived lack of evidence showing that a technology is absolutely safe.

[edit] Criticism

Science is a neverending re-evaluation of data and is never complete. It is impossible to collect enough data to make an entirely error-proof statement of safety regarding any technology, as new data and variables are always coming in. Furthermore, its impossible for anything to be entirely and utterly safe, as every technology has side effects or possible negative consequences in the right situation. The precautionary principle is also often invoked erroneously (perhaps going against the prevailing scientific consensus) in situations where a technology has studies which prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there are minimal negative consequences, but the petitioner has failed to research or misunderstands the existing body of data.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Sunstein, Cass, Laws of Fear: Beyond the Precautionary Principle (ISBN 0521615127)
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