Science, precaution, and practice.

Abstract

b The precautionary principle has become an increasingly prominent theme in the debate over technological risk, raising many questions over its implications for policy making. A key issue is the relationship between precautionary and more traditional so-called science-based approaches to decision-making, such as cost-benefit and risk analyses. Some fear that a precautionary approach— unlike risk assessment—is too ambiguous and impractical to serve as a basis for real decision-making, and that it is somehow antagonistic to science and may even stifle technological innovation. This article first examines some of the key issues affecting the relationship between science and precaution. Far from being in tension, these two concepts are actually consistent and even mutually reinforcing. A more useful distinction is found to lie between the narrow risk assessments of many regulatory apprais- als and the broader precautionary approaches to hazard reduction and policy- making under conditions of scientific uncertainty, complexity, and high deci- sion stakes. This article identifies a series of key features characterizing a precautionary approach to regulatory appraisal. It cites a recent European Environment Agency (EEA) study that provides examples of how some of these key features could have improved past decision-making on risk. 1 Finally, it illustrates a method that addresses these issues and delivers an approach to regulatory appraisal that is both precautionary and scientifically robust.