The precautionary principle--which holds that action to address threats                  of serious or irreversible environmental harm should be taken even in the absence of                  scientific certainty--has been accepted as a key feature of environmental law                  throughout the European Union. In the United States, however, it is still widely                  unknown, and much of what has been written on the topic takes a negative view.                  Precautionary Politics provides a comprehensive analysis of the precautionary                  principle--its origins and development, its meaning and rationale, its theoretical                  context, and its policy implications. Kerry Whiteside looks at the application of                  the principle (and the controversies it has stirred) and compares European and                  American attitudes toward it and toward environmental regulation in general.Too                  often, Whiteside argues, American critics of the precautionary principle pay                  insufficient attention to how the principle has been debated, refined, and                  elaborated elsewhere. Precautionary Politics fills this gap. Whiteside demonstrates                  the different responses of Europe and the United States, first by describing the                  controversy over genetically modified crops, and then by using this example                  throughout the book to illustrate application of the precautionary principle in                  different contexts. He contrasts the European view that new types of risk require                  specially adapted modes of regulation with the American method of science-based risk                  assessment, and argues that despite Bush administration opposition, U.S.-European                  convergence on precaution is possible. Finally, he looks at the ways in which                  participatory innovation can help produce environmentally positive results.                  Whiteside's systematic defense of the precautionary principle will be an important                  resource for students, scholars, activists, and policymakers and is particularly                  suitable for classroom use.

Precautionary Politics: Principle and Practice in Confronting Environmental Risk (Urban and Industrial Environments) PDF

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