Biotechnology, Biomedicine and the Precautionary Principle

The Precautionary Principle is introduced and shown to be applicable to several kinds of biotechnology, such as the agricultural production of biofuels and the release of genetically modified varieties of food-species and of medicinal species into the environment. This Principle has been accused of involving policies of Maximin. However, the crucial difference between these stances is clarified and explained. Policies of Maximin could involve abandoning experimentation, together with all forms of adventurousness, whereas the Precautionary Principle does not involve any of this, and can even mandate activism in cases where inaction is likely to generate serious or irreversible harms. But some applications of biotechnology also risk generating such harms -or their equivalent, a reduction of future quality of life --. Thus biotechnologists need to be trained to understand the Precautionary Principle and its implications, so as to distinguish benign innovations and innovations which it would be unethical to introduce on precautionary grounds.