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 decision‐making 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 implementing the precautionary principle can affect the public's perception of risk. This is of special importance considering that, in the absence of clear evidence, the perception of risk often drives a debate and any subsequent requests for a precautionary approach.Precaution‐ and risk‐taking can be regarded as two sides of the same coin. Precaution‐taking, in particular, is best described as the implementation—either temporarily or permanently—of measures intended to prevent harm when risks are unknown, unclear or unproven. Although many international regulatory bodies are still formulating their guidelines for a rational application of the precautionary principle to environmental health, a number …