Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle

Abstract

Review: Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle By Carolyn Raffesperger and Joel Tickner, eds. Reviewed by Susan Maret University of Colorado, Denver, USA Raffensperger, Carolyn, and Joel Tickner, eds. Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999. 352 pp. US$30.00. ISBN 1559636882. Recycled, acid-free paper. The Precautionary Principle has its roots in the German principle of Vorsorge, or foresight. In 1970s, the Vorsorgeprinzip (consideration before taking action) was introduced into German environmental law. The Principle was also written into numerous international treaties and conventions, including the Bergen Declaration on Sustainable Development, the Maastricht Treaty on the European Union, the Barcelona Convention, and the Global Climate Change Convention. Although not specifically mentioned in U.S. environmental laws, the spirit of precautionary action and foresight flows through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). It was at the January 29, 1998 Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle the idea of precautionary action was first formally discussed in the U.S. Scientists, policymakers, citizens, philosophers, and regulators representing a variety of groups and countries debated environmental and regulatory issues within the context of precautionary action. At the conclusion of the three-day conference, Wingspread participants issued a statement calling for governments, corporations, communities and scientists to implement the Precautionary Principle into regulatory policymaking. The gist of the Precautionary Principle is as follows: if a practice seems likely to harm the environment, even if proof of harm is not definitive, actions should be taken to eliminate or control the practice. It is within this framework that conference organizers Carolyn Raffensperger and Joel Tickner edited Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle. Raffensperger is coordinator for the Science and Environmental Health Network, and Tickner, a research associate at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, University of Massachusetts, Lowell. This work is an important collection of essays on the Precautionary Principle