Protecting Public Health and the Environment

When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. This idea, known as the "Precautionary Principle," is seen by environmentalists and public health experts as the key to protecting ecological and human health.

In January 1998, the Science and Environmmental Health Network convened an international group of scientists, researchers, environmentalists, academics, and labor representatives to discuss ways of incorporating the precautionary approach into environmental and public health decision-making. Known as the Wingspread Conference on Implementing the Precautionary Principle, the workshop focused on understanding the contexts under which the principle developed, its basis, and how it could be implemented. Protecting Public Health and the Environment is an outgrowth of that conference. The book: describes the history, specific content, and scientific and philosophical foundations of the principle of precautionary action explains the functions of the principle in activities as diverse as agriculture and manufacturing explains how to know when precautionary action is needed and who decides what action will (or will not) be taken attempts to show how the burden of proof of environmental harm can be shifted to proponents of a potentially hazardous activity provides specific structures and mechanisms for implementing the precautionary principl.

Throughout, contributors focus on the difficult questions of implementation and fundamental change required to support a more precautionary approach to environmental and public health hazards. Among the contributors are David Ozonoff, Nicholas Ashford, Ted Schettler, Robert Costanza, Ken Geiser, and Anderw Jordan.

Public health professionals and academics, policymakers, environmental lawyers, sustainable agriculture proponents, economists, and environmental activists will find the book an enlightening and thought-provoking guide to a new way of thinking about ecosystem and public health protection.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1559636882
• ISBN13: 9781559636889
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Island Press
• Length: 411 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A neutral guideline to understand the principle

The book has indicated the underlying theory, substantial framework for the implementation of the pinciple, and the practice of the p.p. in international society. Overall, most articles have done good job in describing their appraisal of the principle. I strongly recommend the book because of those authors' enthusiasms in advocating the application of the precautionary principle to address the scientific uncertainty. Even some of the articles cite insufficient information to support their points.

On Target but Fragmented--Needs New Edition with Summary

This is the second best of several books on environmental policy I have reviewed, and it merits careful scrutiny in part because it brings together a number of expert authors and there is in essence "something for everyone" in this edited work. What is lacks, though, is a good summary chapter that lists how the "precautionary principle" should be applied across each of the top ten environmental areas of concern--something that could circulate more easily than the book, and perhaps have a beneficial policy impact at the local, state, and national levels--and I suggest this because the meat of the book is good, it needs an executive summary. The chapter that was most meaningful to me, the one that I think needs to be migrated into business education, international affairs education, science & technology policy education, is by Gordon K. Durnil, Chapter 16, and it deal with "How Much Information Do We Need Before Exercising Precaution." This is a brilliant piece of work that dissects our current environmental policy information collection, processing, and analysis system, and finds it very deceptive, disingenuous, and consequently seriously flawed. For the best on the environment, read "Pandora's Poison". For the best on public health, read "Betrayal of Trust." For a very fine cross-over book that has good chapters from various good people, this is the book to buy and enjoy.

Ambitious and full of food for thought

"Protecting Human Health and the Environment" discusses what is involved in coming up with a meaningful, workable definition of the "precautionary principle." It also talks about how this principle (which comes down to the "First, do no harm" of Hippocrates) can be given effect in environmental policy, law, and specific problems. The book is a collection of articles that were first presented at the Wingspread Conference in 1998. This variety of voices and perspectives is one of the real strengths of the book: the precautionary principle is a huge idea that involves some fundamental shifts in American thinking about science, nature, and environmental protection; and this is the first book I've read which really manages to convey that. Those who think that the "precautionary principle" is another enviro plot to co-opt American policy and advance unfounded, neo-Luddite agendas really need to read this book. It is rich in thought-provoking ideas, backed up by meticulous review of existing policy, law, and science -- powerful without being dogmatic, sincere without being cloying. And those who grasp the severity of the threats to sustainability facing human society should find a deeply coherent, beautifully articulate means of responding to these threats. Unlike many of the sweeping solutions advance over the years to the human inability to moderate its behavior for the good of the whole, implementation of the precautionary principle actually seems possible! Indeed, it is already being pursued. Let's hope that lots of courageous and energetic folks get their hands on this one.