Taking Precaution-As a Matter of Principal

This summer saw an unprecedented event in the world of environmental activism: thanks to the efforts of the BCA, and
many other grassroots organizations, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to adopt the Precautionary Principle as city policy!

The Precautionary Principle - in layman’s terms, “better safe than sorry” - is a tool for decision making that encourages policymakers to take action to protect our health, even in the face of scientific uncertainty. Traditional environmental decision making has relied on a tool known as risk assessment, which asks: How much harm is allowable?

The Precautionary Principle asks a very different question instead: “How little harm is possible?”

We know that preventable chronic illnesses are on the rise, and we know that chemicals in use today are showing up in our bodies. But between those two facts, there’s a huge chasm of information that science may never be able to fill.

Implementing the Precautionary Principle requires that where threats of serious damage to people or natural systems exist, measures would be taken to reduce or eliminate the harm, even if cause and effect relationships are not fully established. It calls for a careful analysis of available alternatives, followed by the selection of the alternative that minimizes the impact to human health and the environment.