scholarly journals Precaution in the Governance of Technology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Stirling
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Real World ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
International Governance ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Technology Governance ◽  
Governance Of Science ◽  
Transparency And Accountability

Strong political pressures mean that few issues in international governance of science and technology are more misunderstood than the precautionary principle. Often accused of being ‘anti-science’, precaution simply acknowledges that not all uncertainties can be artificially aggregated to ‘risk’. ‘Real-world’ imperatives for justification, acceptance, trust, and blame management unscientifically suppress the indeterminacies, complexities, and variabilities of the ‘real’ real world—and so reinforce attachments to whichever innovation trajectories are most powerfully backed by default. Resisting these pressures for circumscribed ‘risk assessment’, precaution explicitly emphasizes health and environment—and challenges pretence that technology choices can be value-free. Additionally, precaution points to a host of normally-excluded methods that allow greater rigour, balance, completeness, transparency, and accountability in evaluating priorities and interpreting evidence. This chapter reviews key associated issues in technology governance, and highlights practical ways to help more deliberate social steering of the directions taken by science and technology.

The Role of Risk Assessment in Precautionary Intervention: A Comparison of Judicial Trends in the EC and WTO

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 455-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elen Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
European Community ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Case Law ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
The World ◽  
Phytosanitary Measures

AbstractThis paper focuses on the meanings attached to the "precautionary principle" in judgments passed down by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the European Community (EC) courts. It speaks to claims that, in response to WTO litigation, the EC courts are beginning to construe the precautionary principle in a manner that more closely resembles obligations arising from the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement). It illustrates that although disparities between interpretations in EC and WTO case law of legitimate precautionary intervention are growing to be less obvious, inconsistencies continue to exist.

Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology: Sociology of Science in the Real World.

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. Cozzens ◽  
Michel Callon ◽  
John Law ◽  
Arie Rip
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
The Real ◽  
Dynamics Of Science

Pat Cadigan's Synners: Refiguring Nature, Science and Technology

1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-84
Author(s):  
Laura Chernaik
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
Fictional World ◽  
The Real ◽  
American Thought

This article analyses an anti-essentialist SF novel, focusing on the extent to which anti-foundationalism enables a more accurate as well as a more productive representation of postmodernity. My argument stresses the ways in which Pat Cadigan's novel Synners, mostly because of its remarkable narrative form, challenges some of the most dangerous norms and normativity of American thought and culture. I argue, that, in order to understand this complex novel correctly, we must approach technoscience and transnational capitalism as separate, interacting discourses and material practices. The representations of technoscience, in the novel, are definitely not ‘figures’ for late capitalism: they are representations of a discourse which interacts with capitalism in the fictional world as in the real world. Contrary to what has been suggested by a number of critics writing about Foucault, use of this notion of discourse does not preclude use of notions of agency. As the queer theorists who have drawn on Foucault's work show, agency can be theorized in terms compatible with the notions of discourses, material practices and technologies. My discussion of Synners thus focuses on questions of agency, showing how Cadigan uses a deconstruction of Judeo-Christian religious tropes to argue for a responsible, and knowledgable, ‘incurably informed’ approach to technology.

scholarly journals Child-centred pandemic decisions: how the Precautionary Principle can generate better risk assessment in an era of uncertainty

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Kvalsvig ◽  
Jin Russell ◽  
Carmen Timu-Parata ◽  
Michael G. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Burden Of Proof ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Preventive Action ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Health Impact Assessments ◽  
Comprehensive Health ◽  
Indirect Impacts

Abstract Key messagesRisk assessment for children has been a polarising issue during the Covid-19 pandemic. Governments around the world are preparing to ‘open up’ before risks to children are fully quantified, with unknown implications for their long-term health.Applying the Precautionary Principle to child health requires decision makers to 1) take preventive action until risks are better understood; 2) ensure that the burden of proof rests with proponents of risk; 3) explore alternatives to the risk; and 4) use participatory approaches to decision-making.Policies relating to children must be centred on the rights and wellbeing of children. We provide a framework for comprehensive Health Impact Assessments to ensure that direct and indirect impacts upon children are taken into account in major policy decisions.Elimination strategies offer an integrated approach to the protection of children’s wellbeing, the wellbeing of the population as a whole, and health equity. Where countries are transitioning away from elimination, a tight suppression approach is preferable to loose suppression or mitigation.

Role of the precautionary principle in the EU risk assessment process on industrial chemicals

2003 ◽  
Vol 75 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2535-2541 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. de Bruijn ◽  
Bjorn Hansen ◽  
S. Munn
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Industrial Chemicals ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Scientific Experts ◽  
General Guidance

This paper discusses the practical implementation of the precautionary principle in the area of management of industrial chemicals in the European Union. An analysis of a number of recent cases where the precautionary principle was invoked shows that the main reason for doing so were the uncertainties in the risk assessment (or the underlying effects or exposure data), which were, according to the scientific experts, so high that the "normal" level of certainty could not be obtained. The challenge for the future is to try to develop general guidance or rules that will support the policymakers in their decision as to whether this uncertainty is so large that action is warranted or whether it is acceptable to wait until further information has become available.

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