Differing perspectives on the use of scientific evidence and the precautionary principle

2003 ◽  
Vol 75 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2543-2545 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Burger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
European Community ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Weight Of Evidence ◽  
Uncertainty Factors ◽  
The Precautionary Principle

Different governments and agencies are approaching the use of scientific evidence, weight of evidence, and the precautionary principle in different ways. The European community has used the precautionary principle in situations where the consequences are great, data are unavailable or will be costly (in terms of money and time) to obtain, or data are difficult or impossible to obtain. Other countries, such as the United States, have a risk assessment process that has built-in safety or uncertainty factors which are themselves precautionary. Risk management decisions can be made on the basis of adequate studies, risk assessment, weight-of-evidence approaches, and the application of the precautionary principle. While weight of evidence has been used in the United States for increased research funding and regulator action with respect to some chemicals that are hormonally active, the European community has applied the precautionary principle.

scholarly journals Risk assessment of cartilaginous fish populations

2014 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 1057-1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enric Cortés ◽  
Elizabeth N. Brooks ◽  
Kyle W. Shertzer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cartilaginous Fish ◽  
Assessment Methods ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Model Complexity ◽  
Stock Assessments ◽  
Demographic Methods

Abstract We review three broad categories of risk assessment methodology used for cartilaginous fish: productivity-susceptibility analysis (PSA), demographic methods, and quantitative stock assessments. PSA is generally a semi-quantitative approach useful as an exploratory or triage tool that can be used to prioritize research, group species with similar vulnerability or risk, and provide qualitative management advice. Demographic methods are typically used in the conservation arena and provide quantitative population metrics that are used to quantify extinction risk and identify vulnerable life stages. Stock assessments provide quantitative estimates of population status and the associated risk of exceeding biological reference points, such as maximum sustainable yield. We then describe six types of uncertainty (process, observation, model, estimation, implementation, and institutional) that affect the risk assessment process, identify which of the three risk assessment methods can accommodate each type of uncertainty, and provide examples mostly for sharks drawn from our experience in the United States. We also review the spectrum of stock assessment methods used mainly for sharks in the United States, and present a case study where multiple methods were applied to the same species (dusky shark, Carcharinus obscurus) to illustrate differing degrees of model complexity and type of uncertainty considered. Finally, we address the common and problematic case of data-poor bycatch species. Our main recommendation for future work is to use Management Strategy Evaluation or similar simulation approaches to explore the effect of different sources of uncertainty, identify the most critical data to satisfy predetermined management objectives, and develop harvest control rules for cartilaginous fish. We also propose to assess the performance of data-poor and -rich methods through stepwise model construction.

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.

“It's the Politics, Stupid.” Or is Reality more Complex?

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Weimer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Risk Regulation ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
The One

Reality is complex, and often does not lend itself to generalization or simplifying explanations. Yet at the same time, explaining reality often requires the shaping of notions and concepts of it through generalization and the reduction of complexity. This tension between complexity and particularity on the one hand and generalization and the search for abstracting explanatory patterns on the other is beautifully illustrated by two recently released publications on precaution and risk regulation in the United States and Europe, namely “The Politics of Precaution” by David Vogel1 and “The Reality of Precaution” edited by Jonathan Wiener, Michael Rogers, James Hammitt, and Peter Sand.Both books together can be seen as the latest significant contribution to the ongoing debate on the role of the precautionary principle in risk regulation in a comparative EU-US perspective. Both contributions are significant in that they consolidate the trend towards an empirically informed analysis of the actual practice of the application of precaution in risk regulation.

Precautionary Schemes

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane K. Winn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Risks ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Narrative Framework ◽  
Intense Debate

“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.

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.

Risk Assessment and Chemical Regulatory Policy in the United States and Abroad

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather B. Patisaul ◽  
Scott M. Belcher
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Screening Program ◽  
Regulatory Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Chemical Safety ◽  
Risk Assessment Process

This chapter presents an overview of the risk assessment process with an in-depth description of the related terminology. Critical study features that should be included to maximize utility of data for risk assessment for any experimental study are presented as an aid for academic scientists interested in designing studies with utility in the risk assessment process. The second half of this chapter summarizes the current state of regulatory policy regarding EDCs in the United States and abroad. Topics addressed include the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and a detailed accounting of the changes enacted by the recent 2016 revisions to TSCA. These policies are compared to the Registration Evaluation Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) laws that govern chemical safety assessment in the European Union. The Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) and current efforts toward developing high-throughput methods for screening chemicals for endocrine-disrupting activity are also summarized.

A Weight-of-Evidence Approach for Assessing Interactions in Chemical Mixtures

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 377-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Mumtaz ◽  
P. R. Durkin
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Weight Of Evidence ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Chemical Mixtures ◽  
Qualitative Risk Assessment

The risk assessment process must encompass all available toxicological data and scientific evidence on the plausible toxicities of a chemical or chemical mixture. As an extension to the approaches used to conduct risk assessments on chemical mixtures, a preliminary scheme, analogous to the IARC classification of carcinogens, is proposed to express the weight of evidence for the interactions in binary mixtures. This scheme is based on composite representation of all the toxicological evidence from animal bioassays and human data, pharmacokinetics studies, metabolism studies, and structure activity relationships. In addition, factors such as the relevance of route, duration and sequence of exposure, toxicological significance of interactions and the quality of in vivo and in vitro data are taken into consideration. The scheme yields an alphanumeric classification that can be used for qualitative risk assessment, and has the potential, as demonstrated in this paper, for quantitative application to site-specific risk assessments. Furthermore, the scheme can be used to estimate interactions or form hypotheses concerning binary interactions. It is flexible and allows all pertinent information to be incorporated in a methodical and consistent manner. Research is needed to identify interaction patterns for simultaneous and sequential exposure scenarios of chemical pollutants in order that this scheme may be developed further and its usefulness and limitations may be tested.

The United States’ Application of Precaution in Managing Living Marine Resources

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-666
Author(s):  
J. Rodney Allen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
International Agreement ◽  
Environmental Legislation ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Many

AbstractThis article surveys the application of “precaution” by the United States (US) in its management of living marine resources. The US has not yet implemented the precautionary principle into its environmental legislation, but regulators, courts, and agencies often rely on precautionary approaches in applying the legislation. An overview of precaution, its background and a description of the many forms it can take is presented first, followed by an overview of the major US federal legislation intended to protect living marine resources, how regulators, courts and agencies apply precautionary approaches in applying the legislation and how federal rules allow individual states to manage living marine resources. A sampling of states and regional state alliances that have applied precautionary approaches is provided and finally a unique international agreement that applies precaution in managing the waters of the Great Lakes is assessed.

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