Precautionary Principle Program
What is the Precautionary Principle?
The precautionary principle is a tool for making better health and environmental decisions. It aims to prevent harm from the outset rather than manage it after the fact.
One useful way to define the precautionary principle was developed in 1998 by a group of scientists, environmental activists, government officials, lawyers, and labor representatives at the Wingspread conference center in Wisconsin:
"When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically." [Full Wingspread Statement.]
In common language, this means "better safe than sorry." It calls for a careful analysis of alternatives using the best independent science. When evidence of harm exists, the precautionary principle compels us to err on the side of caution - as anyone would do with the their own health or their children's safety.
Devra Davis makes this comment on the wisdom of precaution:
"We do not wait for buildings to fall down or bridges to collapse before reinforcing and inspecting them for safety; we do not wait for boats to sink before requiring that they carry life jackets. We have enough knowledge about pollution to make 'informed choices."
Why is a precautionary approach important?
There are 85,000 synthetic chemicals approved for market use today, from preservatives in our lipstick to flame retardants in our sofas, from plasticizers in our water bottles to pesticides on our fruit and vegetables. Less than ten percent of these chemicals have been tested for their effects on human health. We know that the average American carries at least 100 chemicals in his or her body, yet we know next to nothing about the lifetime effects of exposure to this toxic "cocktail" of chemicals.
However, we do know that the release and use of toxic substances, the exploitation of resources, and physical alterations of the environment have had substantial, unintended consequences affecting human health and the environment. There is mounting evidence that many diseases and adverse health conditions are linked to exposure to contaminants in the environment. Some of these include cancer, asthma, learning disabilities, and birth defects. Other impacts include global climate change, species extinctions, and stratospheric ozone depletion.
Health and environmental regulations today are generally designed to control the amount of pollution released into the environment at a "safe" level, or to clean it up after it's already in our air, water, soil, food, and bodies. Virtually all new technologies, products, and economic activities are assumed to be "innocent until proven guilty" until scientific evidence demonstrates some of them may in fact be harmful. Meanwhile, the public assumes the risks and often becomes the victim, usually without even being informed, much less granting their consent.
Most health and environmental decision-making today asks the question, "How much damage is allowable?" The precautionary principle, by contrast, asks a fundamentally different question: "How little damage is possible?" It puts human health and the environment at the center of our local, state, national, and global decisions so that all individuals and communities, especially those who are most affected, can be protected before harm is done, and can therefore reach their full potential.
Major components to precautionary principle
There are five primary pieces that comprise a precautionary approach:
- Alternatives Assessment. An obligation exists to examine a full range of alternatives and select the alternative with the least potential impact on human health and the ecological systems, including the alternative of doing nothing.
- Anticipatory Action. There is a duty to take anticipatory action to prevent harm. Government, business, and community groups as well as the general public, share this responsibility.
- Right to Know. The community has a right to know complete and accurate information on potential human health and environmental impacts associated with the selection of products, services, operations or plans. The burden to supply this information lies with the proponent, not with the general public.
- Full Cost Accounting. When evaluating potential alternatives, there is a duty to consider all the costs including raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, use, cleanup, eventual disposal, and health costs even if such costs are not reflected in the initial price. Short- and long-term time thresholds should be considered when making decisions.
- Thoughtful Decision Process. Decisions applying the precautionary principle must be transparent, participatory, democratic, and informed by the best available independent science.
The Bay Area Working Group on the Precautionary Principle
Commonweal is a founding member of the Bay Area Working Group on the Precautionary Principle. The Working Group is a diverse collaborative of organizations and individuals that promotes and implements precautionary action to protect health and the environment. We create fundamental changes in decision making that build healthier, more just, and sustainable communities.
The Working Group was instrumental in supporting the City of San Francisco's historic adoption of the precautionary principle as city policy on June 24, 2003. This step was an unprecedented breakthrough in environmental health decision-making nationwide, and received media attention around the world.
Click here for San Francisco's ordinance on the San Francisco Department of the Environment website.
Initiatives that promote the precautionary principle are underway in many other communities, including the cities of Berkeley, California; Seattle, Washington; and Portland Oregon; and the states of Massachusetts and New Mexico. We encourage you to learn about and support these efforts, and to begin organizing in your own community.
For more information
To learn more about Commonweal's work on the precautionary principle, contact Project Director Davis Baltz at dbaltz@igc.org or 510 834-8786.
Please visit the following websites which address the precautionary principle in detail:
Bay Area Working Group on the Precautionary Principle
http://www.takingprecaution.org
Science and Environmental Health Network
http://www.sehn.org/precaution.html
The Breast Cancer Fund
http://breastcancerfund.org/pp_main.htm