A LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE The Precautionary Principle is a legal and moral requirement for private and public

The Precautionary Principle is a legal and moral requirement for private and public decision-makers to act when confronted with uncertainty and potential irreversible damage. At its most simple it is a tool for timely action when dealing with the harmful effects of human activities. However, there is wide debate surrounding what defines the Principle in practice as the following discussion will demonstrate. The Precautionary Principle is a vital part of many international treaties and declarations and is fast becoming an important fundamental principle of international law. Its recent adoption as the core of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety would appear to be the most advanced expression of the principle so far in any international agreement. The Protocol contains a strong version of the Precautionary Principle. It states in Article 10, paragraph 6 that ‘lack of scientific certainty...shall not prevent [a] party from taking a decision, as appropriate,...’in relation to living modified organism and their potential risk to biodiversity. It establishes the Precautionary Principle as a principle of international environmental law and its strong treatment makes the dispute, that it is not a principle of customary international law, more difficult.