A Small Chance of Disaster Broome, John
European review (Chichester, England),
07/2013, Letnik:
21, Številka:
S1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Expected utility theory tells us how we should make decisions under uncertainty: we should choose the option that leads to the greatest expectation of utility. This may, however, not be the option ...that is likely to produce the best result – that may be the wrong choice if it also creates a small chance of a great disaster. A small chance of disaster may be the most important consideration in decision making. Climate change creates a small chance of disaster, and some authors believe this to be the most important consideration in deciding our response to climate change. To know whether they are right, we need to make a moral judgement about just how bad the disaster would be.
Nanoparticles have multifaceted advantages in drug administration as vaccine delivery and hence hold promises for improving protection of farmed fish against diseases caused by pathogens. However, ...there are concerns that the benefits associated with distribution of nanoparticles may also be accompanied with risks to the environment and health. The complexity of the natural and social systems involved implies that the information acquired in quantified risk assessments may be inadequate for evidence-based decisions. One controversial strategy for dealing with this kind of uncertainty is the precautionary principle. A few years ago, an UNESCO expert group suggested a new approach for implementation of the principle. Here we compare the UNESCO principle with earlier versions and explore the advantages and disadvantages by employing the UNESCO version to the use of PLGA nanoparticles for delivery of vaccines in aquaculture. Finally, we discuss whether a combined scientific and ethical analysis that involves the concept of responsibility will enable approaches that can provide a supplement to the precautionary principle as basis for decision-making in areas of scientific uncertainty, such as the application of nanoparticles in the vaccination of farmed fish.
The commercial introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has revealed a broad range of views among scientists and other stakeholders on perspectives of genetic engineering (GE) and if and ...how GMOs should be regulated. Within this controversy, the precautionary principle has become a contentious issue with high support from skeptical groups but resisted by GMO advocates. How to handle lack of scientific understanding and scientific disagreement are core issues within these debates. This article examines some of the key issues affecting precaution as a legal standard and as an approach to the use of science in decision-making processes. It is pointed out that there is a need for reflection over the level of scientific evidence required for applying the precautionary principle as well as who should have the burden of proof when there are uncertainties. Further, an awareness of the broader scientific uncertainties found in GMO risk assessment implies that a precautionary approach must be elaborated: both for acknowledging uncertainties and for identification of scientific responses. Since precaution is an important issue within the sustainable development framework, it is suggested that sustainability can provide a normative standard that can help to reveal the influence and negotiate the importance of the various forms of uncertainty. Wise management of uncertainties and inclusion of normative aspects in risk assessment and management may help to ensure sustainable and socially robust GMO innovations at present and in the future.
Missing the Wood for the Trees? Burgess, Adam
European Journal of Risk Regulation,
06/2013, Letnik:
4, Številka:
2
Book Review, Journal Article
Recenzirano
There is little debate, particularly clear, ‘no bullshit’ debate within the risk and regulation community, much as there is a lack elsewhere within academia. Without it, much goes unclarifed and ...arguments aren't tested and pushed to their limits, which is generally where they need to go. On these grounds alone I would welcome the different approaches to European/American precaution set out by Vogel and Wiener. But there are more positive things to say about these competing representations, irrespective of which one prefers. This is a discussion rich in empirical detail but that goes beyond individual issues towards systemic patterns, relating the data to wider themes and an overall framework. What's more, it concerns a matter of real contemporary significance and interest that citizens generally – at least those of America and Europe – should know about, and even have a view upon. And it's genuinely interesting – irrespective of any engagement with the academic study of risk and regulation.
The Politics of Precaution by David Vogel, and the edited volume, The Reality of Precaution each compare the United States with Europe over a range of regulatory areas. Vogel claims that the US and ...Europe changed places in recent years with Europe becoming more precautionary than the US. The edited volume covers a wider range of topics and finds that the results are mixed. The evidence of diversity in the edited volume appears convincing, but this essay argues that both volumes too narrowly focus on the precautionary principle. Rather it argues for a broader context that confronts precaution both with the proportionality principle, which is a mainstay of European Union law, and with the limitations of cost/benefit analysis and Impact Assessment. It unpacks the normative underpinnings of these concepts to suggest a broader frame for policy analysis.
Precautionary Schemes Winn, Jane K.
European Journal of Risk Regulation,
06/2013, Letnik:
4, Številka:
2
Book Review, Journal Article
Recenzirano
“And remember you’re in France: The customer is always wrong!”
Many years ago, there was intense debate about what the Precautionary Principle (“PP”) is, or is not. More recently, as the battle lines ...in that debate have ossified, academic attention seems to have shifted to a focus on the somewhat more subtle question of how the term PP, whatever it may mean, is used by different actors in different contexts. David Vogel’s recent book, The Politics of Precaution: Regulating the Environmental Risks in Europe and the United States (2012) (hereafter “Politics”), is a good recent example of such commentary. Vogel's approach recognizes the diversity of relevant developments, he seeks to impose a coherent narrative framework on those developments.
The controversy over commercial releases of genetically modified (GM) crops demonstrates that there is a need for new approaches that are more broadly based, transparent and able to acknowledge the ...uncertainties involved. This article investigates whether new forms of knowledge production
as prescribed in the concept of post-normal science can improve risk governance of GM crops. The GM science review carried out in the UK in 2003 serves as a case study and the focus is on how scientific uncertainty and public concern was taken into account. Some recommendations are advanced
for assessing scientific uncertainty, for accommodating scientific disputes and for integrating stakeholders' interests and perspectives in relations to GM crops.
The increasing deterioration of environment is affecting our entire word. Environmental management plays a crucial role in maintaining environmental sustainability. While environmental management is ...complicated due to the complex natural ecosystem which is poorly understood and ill-structured, and significant uncertainties. A variety of environment assessment processes, e.g., environmental impact assessment (EIA), regional strategic environmental assessment (R-SEA), the precautionary principle, sustainability assessment (SA) etc., widely used in environmental management are reviewed and their correlations with human health risk assessment (HHRA) and ecological risk assessment (ERA) are investigated. The results of this paper facilitate the decision makers selecting proper assessment framework and/or some combinations of them in environmental management.
L'invocation, l'application et les implications politiques du principe de précaution suscitent de nombreux débats. Les décideurs sont constamment confrontés à un dilemme, celui de traiter des risques ...technologiques pour la santé humaine, la sécurité et l'environnement. En utilisant la théorie de l'activité communicative et la théorie du droit et de la démocratie de Habermas, cette thèse explore à la fois l'invocation et l'application légitimes du principe de précaution et les politiques publiques de précaution sur la base de l'examen des fondements normatifs et de la performance du principe de précaution en politique publique. En outre, cette thèse met les politiques publiques de précaution à l'épreuve des biocarburants.
The invocation, application and policy implications of the precautionary principle are giving rise to much debate. Policymakers are constantly confronted with the dilemma of dealing with the technological risks to human health, safety and the environment. By using Habermas¡¯s theory of communicative activity and discourse theory of law and democracy, this thesis explores both the legitimate invocation and application of the precautionary principle and the precautionary public policy on the basis of reviewing the normative foundations and performance of the precautionary principle in public policy. Furthermore, this thesis puts the precautionary public policy to the test of biofuels.
. If the precautionary principle is to become the guide of the international community for environmental protection policies, an economic interpretation of the principle is in order. The analysis of ...case studies and a survey of the recent decision theoretic literature show the lack of a fully satisfactory economic model. More generally various theoretical and empirical results show that the principle cannot be assumed to apply a priori. Though it has been proposed by international treaties as a rule of thumb for situations of scientific uncertainty, the precautionary principle could actually be inefficient.
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