Why is the use of the Precautionary Principle encouraged but with low cost or no cost solutions?
A5. The Precautionary Principle (PP) is a public policy approach for risk management of possible but unproven adverse health effects. The extent of PP practices range from monitoring scientific developments and providing information to lowering exposure limits. When considering precautionary measures, they should be proportional to the level of risk and its associated uncertainty, the severity of the health outcome, and the level of societal benefit. In the context of extremely-low-frequency electric and magnetic fields, such as those from power lines, health risks to the public from such exposures have not been established. It is, therefore, the opinion of Health Canada that any precautionary measures applied to power lines should only involve low cost or no cost options. Q6) Who is the person who did the studies here before the project was approved? A6. Health Canada is not in a position to answer this question since it did not conduct any studies specific to this project. Q7) Health
