1.2.1 Precautionary Principle

In its origin, the precautionary principle is rather a political than a philosophical principle and was first introduced as ‘Vorsorgeprinzip’ (principle of precaution) in the German-speaking area. It was incorporated into several national legal texts and international treaties or declarations. A good definition was given by Per Sandin et al. (2002: 288): ‘The basic message of the precautionary principle is that on some occasions, measures against a possible hazard should be taken even if the available evidence does not suffice to treat the existence of that hazard as a scientific fact.’ It can therefore be stated that the precautionary principle is based on hazard detection and scientific uncertainty. As a consequence, the burden of proof (that an action might cause severe harm to the public or the environment) falls on those who plead for measures to prevent such a harm (see also Raffensperger and Tickner 1999). Whenever one can anticipate plausible harm for society or the environment, the precautionary principle should be applied. But often it is not clear whether a planned action will cause harm to the public or the environment or not, because the possible impact of human actions on the environment or human health often depends on the dynamics of complex systems, so the real consequences of actions may be unpredictable. Therefore further scientific research is required – but also caution if a current action intervenes in complex (human or natural) systems.

Nowadays the precautionary principle is incorporated into many European and international contracts and treaties. In its 1976 Report on the Environment, for example, the German Federal Government describes the precautionary principle as follows:

Environmental policy is not limited to averting imminent danger and remedying damage that has already occurred. Precautionary environmental policy furthermore demands that the natural environment be protected and treated with care. The precautionary principle is embodied in a number of environmental provisions, and also involves resource conservation in addition to risk precaution. (German Federal Government 1976)

The precautionary principle is especially important in legal regulations and decisions concerning potential risks to public health, such as the marketing of genetically modified foods, the use of growth hormones in cattle raising, or measures to prevent ‘mad cow’ disease.

Nevertheless, in real cases the policy-makers often have to struggle with a lack of valid scientific information or with irreducible conflicts between the interests of different stakeholders. Sometimes it is very difficult to estimate or assess the potential harm and to find an acceptable political compromise. But anyway, rigorous application of the precautionary principle should be avoided when there is insufficient knowledge of whether there is a real potential risk from an innovative product or an activity or not. In this case the principle could be taken immoderately as an absolute ban on all actions (see Van den Belt 2003), which could stall all technological innovation and progress.