Premium
Precautionary principles: general definitions and specific applications to genetically modified organisms
Author(s) -
Löfstedt Ragnar E.,
Fischhoff Baruch,
Fischhoff Ilya R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of policy analysis and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.898
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1520-6688
pISSN - 0276-8739
DOI - 10.1002/pam.10051
Subject(s) - precautionary principle , risk analysis (engineering) , context (archaeology) , action (physics) , law and economics , element (criminal law) , face (sociological concept) , risk management , economics , public economics , business , positive economics , political science , sociology , microbiology and biotechnology , law , biology , social science , management , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract Precautionary principles have been proposed as a fundamental element of sound risk management. Their advocatessee them as guiding action in the face of uncertainty, encouraging the adoption of measures that reduce seriousrisks to health, safety, and the environment. Their opponents may reject the very idea of precautionaryprinciples, find specific principles unacceptably vague or see them as clearly doing economic damage—eitherto society as a whole or to their own interests. This article traces the development of alternative precautionaryprinciples, primarily in Europe. Their adequacy is considered in one context where such principles have often beeninvoked, using genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture. Although some precautionaryprinciples can be given analytical rigor, the concerns that they express strain the intellectual and institutionalstructure of conventional policy analysis. © 2002 by the Association for Policy Analysis and Management.