Are risk assessment and the precautionary principle equivalent?
By Andrew Apel, J.D., Editor AgBiotech Reporter, Freiberg Publishing, Inc., Cedar Falls, Iowa, USA http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidbiotech/comments/comments101.htm The precautionary principle and criticisms of the doctrine of substantial equivalence (such as those offered by Millstone et al.) have asalient feature in common: they treat a lack of evidence as evidence which justifies a particular course of action. Indeed, that lack of evidence is a precondition both for the application of the precautionary principle and for the testing demanded by critics of the doctrine of substantial equivalence. Risk assessment is an objective and fact-based evaluation of the likelihood of certain adverse outcomes from a course of conduct. As a fact-based evaluation carried out under non-omniscient conditions, risk assessment relies not on the absence of evidence, but on evidence available. The current art requires that risks be assessed with the use of the best facts available. Abject reliance on what
