Saying what you mean and meaning what you say: Precaution, science and the importance of language

Environmental and Planning Law Journal

Volumn 20, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 211-222

  Nagorcka, Felicity ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84881945626     PISSN: 0813300X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (137)

1. Schweister A, quoted in Harremoës P, Gee D, McGarvin M, Stirling A, Keys J, Wynne B, Guedes Vaz S (eds), Late Lessons from Early Warnings: The Precautionary Principle 1896-2000 (Office for Official Publication of the European Communities, 2001) p 13.
2. Jordan A, "The Precautionary Principle in the European Union" in O'Riordan T, Cameron J and Jordan A (eds), Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001) p 144.
3. Leatch v National Parks and Wildlife Service (1993) 81 LGERA 270 at 282.
4. McGarvin M, "Fisheries: Taking Stock" in Harremoës et al, (Office for Official Publication of the European Communities, 2001), p 168.
5. In Nicholls v Director-General of National Parks and Wildlife (1994) 84 LGERA 397 (Talbot J).
6. Wildavsky A, But is it True? A Citizen's Guide to Environmental Health and Safety Issues (Harvard University Press, 1996) p 442.
7. Bodansky D, "Scientific Uncertainty and the Precautionary Principle" (1991) 33(7) Environment at 4-5.
8. Nollkaemper A, "What You Risk Reveals What You Value" in Freestone D and Hey E (eds), The Precautionary Principle and International Law: The Challenge of Implementation (Kluwer Law International, 1996) p 81.
9. Freestone D, "International Fisheries Law Since Rio: The Continued Rise of the Precautionary Principle" in Boyle A and Freestone D (eds), International Law and Sustainable Development: Past Achievements and Future Challenges (Oxford University Press, 1999) p 136.
10. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, UN DOC A/CONF 151/26 (Vol 1) 31 ILM 74 (adopted by United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, 13 June 1992).
11. Stewart A, "Scientific Uncertainty, Ecologically Sustainable Development and the Precautionary Principle" (1999) 8 Griffith Law Review at 350 and 366.
12. Attfield R, "The Precautionary Principle and Moral Values" in O'Riordan T and Cameron J (eds), Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Earthscan Publications, 1994) p 156.
13. Bodansky D, "Scientific Uncertainty and the Precautionary Principle" (1991) 33(7) Environment at 5.
14. Sperling K, "If Caution Really Mattered" (1999) 16 EPLJ at 425 and 439.
15. John Frangos, among others, re-asserts the need for science to play a more dominant role in decision-making: Frangos J, "Environmental Science and the Law" (1999) 16 EPLJ at 175 and 181. Cf McGarvin M, "Precaution, Science and the Sin of Hubris" in O'Riordan and Cameron, n 12, p 74.
16. O'Riordan T, Cameron J and Jordan A, "The Evolution of the Precautionary Principle" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 14.
17. McGarvin M, "Science, Precaution, Facts and Values" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 44.
18. Hey E, "The Precautionary Concept in Environmental Policy and Law: Institutionalising Caution" (1992) 4 Georgetown Environmental Law Review at 303 and 305
19. Gullett W, "Environmental Protection and the 'Precautionary Principle': A Response to Scientific Uncertainty in Environmental Management" (1997) 14 EPLJ at 52 and 56.
20. Freestone D and Hey E, "Implementing the Precautionary Principle: Challenges and Opportunities" in Freestone and Hey, The Precautionary Principle and International Law: The Challenge of Implementation (Kluwer Law International, 1996), p 257.
21. Hey E, "The Precautionary Concept in Environmental Policy and Law: Institutionalising Caution" (1992) 4 Georgetown Environmental Law Review at 305
22. Gullett W, "Environmental Protection and the 'Precautionary Principle': A Response to Scientific Uncertainty in Environmental Management" (1997) 14 EPLJ at 56.
23. Mee LD, "Scientific Methods and the Precautionary Principle" in Freestone and Hey, The Precautionary Principle and International Law: The Challenge of Implementation (Kluwer Law International, 1996), p 109.
24. Stirling A, "The Precautionary Principle in Science and Technology" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 40.
25. For example, this phrase is used in the IGAE, the Rio Declaration and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 4 June 1992, 31 ILM 849 (entered into force 21 March 1994).
26. Hunt J, "The Social Construction of Precaution" in O'Riordan and Cameron, Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Earthscan Publications, 1994), p 120
27. Gullett W, "The Precautionary Principle in Australia: Policy, Law and Potential Precautionary EIAs" (2000) 11 Risk, Health, Safety and Environment at 93 and 97.
28. Cameron J, "The Precautionary Principle in International Law" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 119.
29. See eg, Wildavsky A, But is it True? A Citizen's Guide to Environmental Health and Safety Issues (Harvard University Press, 1996) p 437.
30. Goklany IM, The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal of Environmental Risk Assessment (2001) p 2.
31. Activists have been described as "anti-science" for advocating the precautionary principle: Wynne B and Mayer S, "How Science Fails the Environment" (1993) 138 New Scientist 33 at 33.
32. Freestone D and Hey E, "Implementing the Precautionary Principle: Challenges and Opportunities" in Freestone and Hey, The Precautionary Principle and International Law: The Challenge of Implementation (Kluwer Law International, 1996), p 251.
33. see also McGarvin M, "Science, Precaution, Facts and Values" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 35.
34. Stirling A, "The Precautionary Principle in Science and Technology" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 65.
35. Gullett W, "The Precautionary Principle in Australia: Policy, Law and Potential Precautionary EIAs" (2000) 11 Risk, Health, Safety and Environment at 53.
36. Hunt J, "The Social Construction of Precaution" in O'Riordan and Cameron, Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Earthscan Publications, 1994), p 123.
37. Michel Foucault has described how knowledge is necessarily interpreted and represented through language, a process that compounds its nature as a social construction. Simpson GJ and Charlesworth H, "Objecting to Objectivity: The Radical Challenge to Legal Liberalism" in Hunter R, Ingleby R and Johnstone R, Thinking About Law: Perspectives on the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Law (Allen & Unwin, 1995) p 126.
38. Gullett W, "The Precautionary Principle in Australia: Policy, Law and Potential Precautionary EIAs" (2000) 11 Risk, Health, Safety and Environment at 53.
39. McDonell G, "Risk Management, Reality and the Precautionary Principle: Coping with Decisions", in Harding R and Fisher E (eds), Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999) p 192.
40. Harremoës P, Gee D, McGarvin M, Stirling A, Keys J, Wynne B, Guedes Vaz S (eds), Late Lessons from Early Warnings: The Precautionary Principle 1896-2000 (Office for Official Publication of the European Communities, 2001) p 184.
41. O'Riordan T, "The Precautionary Principle and Civic Science" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 95.
42. Fisher E, "The Precautionary Principle as a Legal Standard for Public Decision-Making: The Role of Judicial and Merits Review in Ensuring Reasoned Deliberation" in Harding and Fisher, Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999), p 90.
43. Fisher E, in Harding and Fisher, Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999), p 90.
44. Fisher E, in Harding and Fisher, Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999), p 90.
45. O'Riordan T, "The Politics of the Precautionary Principle" in Harding and Fisher, Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999), p 283.
46. Fisher E, in Harding and Fisher, Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999), p 91.
47. Harremoës P, Gee D, McGarvin M, Stirling A, Keys J, Wynne B, Guedes Vaz S (eds), Late Lessons from Early Warnings: The Precautionary Principle 1896-2000 (Office for Official Publication of the European Communities, 2001) p 168.
48. Fisher E and Harding R, "The Precautionary Principle: Towards a Deliberative, Transdisciplinary, Problem-Solving Process" in Harding and Fisher, Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999), p 292
49. Wynne B and Mayer S, "How Science Fails the Environment" (1993) 138 New Scientist 33.
50. Stirling A, "The Precautionary Principle in Science and Technology" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 21.
51. Popper K, "The Open Society and its Enemies" (Vol 1, Ch 5) quoted in McGarvin, n 17, p 35.
52. Cameron J, "The Precautionary Principle in International Law" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 123. I employ Cameron's term here for convenience and as his interpretation of the principle's "core meaning" has had such an influence on the relevant literature.
53. Cameron J, "The Precautionary Principle-Core Meaning, Constitutional Framework and Procedures for Implementation" (Paper presented at the Precautionary Principle Conference, Sydney, 20-21 September 1993) quoted in Ramsay R and Rowe GC, Environmental Law and Policy in Australia: Text and Materials (1995) p 57.
54. Goklany and Cross suggest that application of the precautionary principle has its own unintended consequences and that by stopping technological developments we are unable to discover means of reducing our vulnerability to adversity: Goklany IM, The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal of Environmental Risk Assessment (2001) p 94.
55. Cross FB, "Paradoxical Perils of the Precautionary Principle" (1996) 53 Washington and Lee Law Review at 851 and 925.
56. Cameron J, "The Precautionary Principle-Core Meaning, Constitutional Framework and Procedures for Implementation" (Paper presented at the Precautionary Principle Conference, Sydney, 20-21 September 1993) quoted in Ramsay R and Rowe GC, Environmental Law and Policy in Australia: Text and Materials (1995) p 117.
57. Dovers SR and Handmer JW, "Ignorance, Sustainability and the Precautionary Principle: Towards an Analytical Framework" in Harding and Fisher, Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999), p 171.
58. Cameron J, "The Precautionary Principle-Core Meaning, Constitutional Framework and Procedures for Implementation" (Paper presented at the Precautionary Principle Conference, Sydney, 20-21 September 1993) quoted in Ramsay R and Rowe GC, Environmental Law and Policy in Australia: Text and Materials (1995) p 118.
59. Cameron J and Abouchar J, "The Precautionary Principle: A Fundamental Principle of Law and Policy for the Protection of the Global Environment" (1991) 14 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review at 1-2.
60. Goklany IM, The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal of Environmental Risk Assessment (2001) p 89.
61. Cameron J and Abouchar J, "The Precautionary Principle: A Fundamental Principle of Law and Policy for the Protection of the Global Environment" (1991) 14 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review at 2.
62. Cameron J, "The Precautionary Principle-Core Meaning, Constitutional Framework and Procedures for Implementation" (Paper presented at the Precautionary Principle Conference, Sydney, 20-21 September 1993) quoted in Ramsay R and Rowe GC, Environmental Law and Policy in Australia: Text and Materials (1995) p 117.
63. Cameron J, "The Precautionary Principle-Core Meaning, Constitutional Framework and Procedures for Implementation" (Paper presented at the Precautionary Principle Conference, Sydney, 20-21 September 1993) quoted in Ramsay R and Rowe GC, Environmental Law and Policy in Australia: Text and Materials (1995) p 116. Although in practice, preventative measures are often misconstrued as precautionary.
64. Nollkaemper A, "What You Risk Reveals What You Value" in Freestone D and Hey E (eds), The Precautionary Principle and International Law: The Challenge of Implementation (Kluwer Law International, 1996) p 83.
65. Wynne B, "Uncertainty and Environmental Learning: Reconceiving Science and Policy in the Preventative Paradigm" (1992) 2 Global Environmental Change at 111.
66. McGarvin M, "Science, Precaution, Facts and Values" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 42.
67. Hunt J, "The Social Construction of Precaution" in O'Riordan and Cameron, Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Earthscan Publications, 1994), p 118.
68. Dovers SR and Handmer JW, "Ignorance, Sustainability and the Precautionary Principle: Towards an Analytical Framework" in Harding and Fisher, Perspectives on the Precautionary Principle (Federation Press, 1999), p 173.
69. Cameron J, "The Status of the Precautionary Principle in International Law", in O'Riordan and Cameron, Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Earthscan Publications, 1994), p 277.
70. Delbridge et al (eds), The Macquarie Dictionary (3rd ed, 1998).
71. Delbridge et al (eds), The Macquarie Dictionary (3rd ed, 1998).
72. Cameron J, "The Status of the Precautionary Principle in International Law", in O'Riordan and Cameron, Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Earthscan Publications, 1994), p 116.
73. McIntyre O and Mosedale T, "The Precautionary Principle as a Norm of Customary International Law" (1997) 8 Journal of Environmental Law 221 at 221.
74. Bodansky D, "Scientific Uncertainty and the Precautionary Principle" (1991) 33(7) Environment at 5.
75. The competent regional body under the OSPAR Convention: OSCOM Decision 89/1 (14 June 1989), Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, opened for signature 22 September 1992, 32 ILM 1069 (entered into force 25 March 1995) (OSPAR Convention).
76. OSPAR Convention, n 61.
77. Adopted by decision EM-I/3, 29 January 2000, of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, opened for signature 5 June 1992, 31 ILM 822 (entered into force 5 June 1992).
78. This terminology is used in the OSPAR Convention, as opposed to the more specific Prior Justification Procedure.
79. For example, the OSPAR Convention; Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, opened for signature 17 March 1992, 31 ILM 1312 (entered into force 6 October 1996); and the Bamako Convention on the Ban of Import of Hazardous Wastes into Africa and on Control of their Transboundary Movements, opened for signature 30 January 1992, 30 ILM 775.
80. For example, the Rio Declaration and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 4 June 1992, 31 ILM 849 (entered into force 21 March 1994).
81. Mascher S, "Taking a 'Precautionary Approach': Fisheries Management in New Zealand" (1997) 14 EPLJ 70 at 77.
82. McIntyre O and Mosedale T, "The Precautionary Principle as a Norm of Customary International Law" (1997) 8 Journal of Environmental Law 241.
83. Opened for signature 4 June 1992, 31 ILM 849 (entered into force 21 March 1994) (Climate Change Convention).
84. Communication from the Commission on the Precautionary Principle, Brussels (2 February 2000) COM (2000) 1 final. See also, Katz D, "The Mismatch between the Biosafety Protocol and the Precautionary Principle" (2001) 13 Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 949 at 961.
85. Cameron J and Abouchar J, "The Precautionary Principle: A Fundamental Principle of Law and Policy for the Protection of the Global Environment" (1991) 14 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review at 3.
86. Katz D, "The Mismatch between the Biosafety Protocol and the Precautionary Principle" (2001) 13 Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 963
87. Katz D, "The Mismatch between the Biosafety Protocol and the Precautionary Principle" (2001) 13 Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 963 For example, the Rio Declaration. Australia's IGAE is also a good example of such a document.
88. North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (West Germany v Netherlands; West Germany v Denmark) [1969] ICJ Reports 3 at 43-44. See also the Statute of the International Court of Justice, Art 38(1).
89. Mason Sir A, "The Influence of International Law and Transnational Law on Australian Municipal Law" (1996) 7 Public Law Review 20 at 24.
90. Although it should be recognised that each facet of international law may have considerable influence upon the other: Sands P, "Sustainable Development: Treaty, Custom, and the Cross-fertilization of International Law" in Boyle and Freestone, International Law and Sustainable Development: Past Achievements and Future Challenges (Oxford University Press, 1999), p 56.
91. McIntyre O and Mosedale T, "The Precautionary Principle as a Norm of Customary International Law" (1997) 8 Journal of Environmental Law 235.
92. Cameron J and Abouchar J, "The Status of the Precautionary Principle in International Law" in Freestone and Hey, n 8, p 46; Freestone, n 9, p 136.
93. Marr S, "The Southern Bluefin Tuna Cases: The Precautionary Approach and Conservation and Management of Fish Resources" (2000) 11 European Journal of International Law 815 at 823.
94. Marr S, "The Southern Bluefin Tuna Cases: The Precautionary Approach and Conservation and Management of Fish Resources" (2000) 11 European Journal of International Law 824.
95. (1999) International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, unreported Nos 3 & 4.
96. Wyman L, "Acceptance of the Precautionary Principle-Australian v International Decision-makers" (2001) 18 EPLJ 395 at 406. The facts of all the cases referred to in this article have been frequently discussed elsewhere and will not be repeated here.
97. Marr S, "The Southern Bluefin Tuna Cases: The Precautionary Approach and Conservation and Management of Fish Resources" (2000) 11 European Journal of International Law 828.
98. Wyman L, "Acceptance of the Precautionary Principle-Australian v International Decision-makers" (2001) 18 EPLJ 406. The facts of all the cases referred to in this article have been frequently discussed elsewhere and will not be repeated here.
99. WTO Appellate Body, EC Measures Concerning Meat and Meat Products (Hormones), AB-1997-4, Report of the Appellate Body, 16 January 1998.
100. Case Concerning the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary v Slovakia) (1998) 37 ILM 162.
101. A-Khavar A and Rothwell D, "The International Court of Justice and the Danube Dam Case" (1998) 22 Melbourne University Law Review 507 at 530.
102. Nuclear Tests (New Zealand v France) [1995] ICJ Rep 288.
103. McIntyre O and Mosedale T, "The Precautionary Principle as a Norm of Customary International Law" (1997) 8 Journal of Environmental Law 233.
104. McIntyre O and Mosedale T, "The Precautionary Principle as a Norm of Customary International Law" (1997) 8 Journal of Environmental Law 233.
105. McIntyre O and Mosedale T, "The Precautionary Principle as a Norm of Customary International Law" (1997) 8 Journal of Environmental Law 231.
106. Gullett W, "The Precautionary Principle in Australia: Policy, Law and Potential Precautionary EIAs" (2000) 11 Risk, Health, Safety and Environment at 53. The terms of the principle as established in the IGAE are set out above.
107. Stein Hon Justice PL, "Are Decision-makers too Cautious with the Precautionary Principle?" (2000) 17 EPLJ 3 at 8. Victorian examples include: Agriculture and Veterinary Chemicals (Victoria) Act 1994 (Vic) (Preamble); Fisheries Act 1995 (Vic), s 3; Victorian Environmental Assessment Council Act 2001 (Vic), s 1; Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic), s 4. John Frangos suggests that the Victorian approach is anthropocentric, in contrast to the more ecocentric approach of the ACT: Frangos, n 15, at 175.
108. Bates G, Environmental Law in Australia (5th ed, 2002) p 128. This approach is evidenced in all the statutes cited in n 92.
109. Peel J, "Taking a Precautionary Approach in Queensland" (1998) 4 LGLJ at 50-51.
110. Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth), s 391. The relevant circumstances are listed in s 391(3). The strongest reference to the precautionary principle in Victorian legislation is the Environment Protection Act 1970 (Vic), s 1C, which repeats the IGAE definition and states that the parliamentary intention is that "regard should be given" to the principle (s 1A(3). Contrasted with the mandatory language of the Commonwealth Act, this seems a fairly weak implementation.
111. Gullett W, "The Precautionary Principle in Australia: Policy, Law and Potential Precautionary EIAs" (2000) 11 Risk, Health, Safety and Environment at 111. The terms of the principle as established in the IGAE are set out above.
112. Wyman L, "Acceptance of the Precautionary Principle-Australian v International Decision-makers" (2001) 18 EPLJ 406. The facts of all the cases referred to in this article have been frequently discussed elsewhere and will not be repeated here.
113. Leatch v Director-General of National Parks & Wildlife and Shoalhaven City Council (1993) 81 LGERA 270 at 282.
114. Leatch v Director-General of National Parks & Wildlife and Shoalhaven City Council (1993) 81 LGERA 270 at 279.
115. Wyman L, "Acceptance of the Precautionary Principle-Australian v International Decision-makers" (2001) 18 EPLJ 404. The facts of all the cases referred to in this article have been frequently discussed elsewhere and will not be repeated here.
116. Bates G, Environmental Law in Australia (5th ed, 2002) p 129. This approach is evidenced in all the statutes cited in n 92.
117. Barton C, "The Status of the Precautionary Principle in Australia: Its Emergence in Legislation and as a Common Law Doctrine" (1998) 22 Harvard Environmental Law Review 509 at 542-543
118. Gullett W, "The Precautionary Principle in Australia: Policy, Law and Potential Precautionary EIAs" (2000) 11 Risk, Health, Safety and Environment at 111. The terms of the principle as established in the IGAE are set out above.
119. Stein Hon Justice PL, "Are Decision-makers too Cautious with the Precautionary Principle?" (2000) 17 EPLJ 3 at 21.
120. Greenpeace Australia Ltd v Redbank Power Company Pty Ltd and Singleton Council (1995) 86 LGERA 143 at 154.
121. Young M, paper delivered to the Conference on the Precautionary Principle, University of NSW, 1993, quoted in Bates, n 93, p 135.
122. Bates G, Environmental Law in Australia (5th ed, 2002) p 128-29. This approach is evidenced in all the statutes cited in n 92.
123. Contrary to the statements, Templeman J in Bridgetown/Greenbushes Friends of the Forest Inc v Executive Director of the Department of Conservation and Land Management (1997) 95 LGERA 380, who characterised the precautionary principle as relevant to the way of making decisions, but not to the outcome.
124. This has been implied in many cases, including GFW Gelatine International Ltd v Beaudesert Shire Council [1993] QPLR 342
125. Jeteld Pty Ltd v Council of the City of Toowoomba [1997] QPELR 213.
126. It was specifically stated in Conservation Council of South Australia v Tuna Boat Owners Association (1999) SAERDC 86.
127. GFW Gelatine International Ltd v Beaudesert Shire Council [1993] QPLR 342
128. Jeteld Pty Ltd v Council of the City of Toowoomba [1997] QPELR 213.
129. Bates G, Environmental Law in Australia (5th ed, 2002) p 133. This approach is evidenced in all the statutes cited in n 92.
130. For example, Quirk DCJ in GFW Gelatine [1993] QPLR 342 at 353.
131. In Esteedog v Maroochy Shire Council [1991] QPLR 7.
132. Quirk DCJ adopted a "balance of probabilities" approach. See further, Meurling R, "Look Before You Leap-The Precautionary Principle" (1999) 5 LGLJ at 27 and 36.
133. However, in Simpson v Ballina Shire Council (1994) 82 LGERA 392.
134. Pearlman CJ affirmed that an assessor had not erred in law although the applicants claimed he had incorrectly applied a criminal standard. See Barton C, "The Status of the Precautionary Principle in Australia: Its Emergence in Legislation and as a Common Law Doctrine" (1998) 22 Harvard Environmental Law Review 540.
135. McGarvin M, "Science, Precaution, Facts and Values" in O'Riordan et al, Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001), p 110.
136. For example, Andrew Jordan argues that the precautionary principle came to prominence in the European Union largely as a result of economic considerations. Jordan A, "The Precautionary Principle in the European Union" in O'Riordan T, Cameron J and Jordan A (eds), Re-Interpreting the Precautionary Principle (Cameron and May, 2001) p 146.
137. Bazelon DL, "Science and Uncertainty: A Jurist's View" (1981) 5 Harvard Environmental Law Review at 209 and 215.