Precautionary Principle

Precautionary Principle-If an action has a chance of causing harm, with uncertain scientific proof that it won't, then there are measures that can be taken to intervene.

I think the precautionary principle is a safe theory that can protect the environment and human lives. Even though it could stop some technologies that would help humans thrive, say for example a pesticide so that less crops would get eaten by bugs. We have to take these precautions if there is not enough scientific evidence that these pesticides won't harm humans, animals, or the environment, and potentially do more harm then good. We have to take these precautions because the risk is greater than the reward. I remember from my geography class that they used to use a pesticide called DDT to de-lice people back in the 1950's, this obviously had negative consequences but they didn't know that at the time and it's reminder of what the precautionary principle does for us.

I think that it should be widely applied in environmental regulation because we do not always know what consequences are going to come from our actions. The precautionary principle helps us look at something outside of the box and examine everything it will effect. We need to take precautions when dealing with the environment because somethings can have both positive and negative consequences and sometimes we do not realize the negative outcomes until their damage has been done.

Using the precautionary principle can always have negative consequences. For example you may try and help one particular part of the environment but because you might effect something else you cannot do what you originally wanted to, and that part would suffer. When widely applying this principle for the environment I believe that less would be done because more precautions would be taken and this would be a serious negative consequence. We will have to find ways to better the environment without being selfish of a particular aspect, and it is hard to please everyone at once.