Precaution and analysis: two sides of the same coin? Introduction to talking point on the precautionary principle.

The public perception of precaution.

In their recent Talking Point articles, Martin Peterson and Andrew Stirling debated whether the precautionary principle could act as a basis for rational decisionmaking in the face of unknown or unclear dangers (Peterson, 2007; Stirling, 2007). In addition to the problem of measuring the effectiveness of implementation, there is— more fundamentally—little understanding at present of how impleme...

Risk, precaution and science: towards a more constructive policy debate. Talking point on the precautionary principle.

The Precautionary Principle and the Concept of Precaution

The precautionary principle is frequently invoked in environmental law and policy, and the debate around the principle indicates that there is little agreement on what 'taking precautions' means. The purpose of the present paper is to provide an improved conceptual foundation for this debate in the form of an explication of the concept of precaution. Distinctions between precaution and two rela...

Karsten Klint Jensen the Moral Foundation of the Precautionary Principle

The Commission’s recent interpretation of the Precautionary Principle is used as starting point for an analysis of the moral foundation of this principle. The Precautionary Principle is shown to have the ethical status of an amendment to a liberal principle to the effect that a state only may restrict a person’s actions in order to prevent unacceptable harm to others. The amendment allows for r...

All talk, little action: precaution and European chemicals regulation

The European Union has chosen the precautionary principle as a key guiding principle to achieve more effective policy-making on risks, by moving away from preventive regulation towards more precautionary regulation. Precautionary language has been a part of European Community law for over a decade; however, whether its establishment has had any real effect on European policymaking and regulatio...