The Precautionary Principle cannot be implemented until after an environmental risk assessment - as you did in Unit 2.

The Precautionary Principle should be the first environmental principle of control to be considered. If there are serious threats, the process should be stopped before waiting for the evidence to pile up.

Lack of evidence about a hazard or impact is not the same as evidence of lack of a hazard/impact. Many environmental impacts only show up after a long period of time and often a long way away. Just because we don't see them now does not mean they are not there.

But lack of data alone cannot trigger the precautionary principle. There must be strong concerns or threats.

Find out how the Precautionery Principle has been applied in practice:

The debate about what the Precautionary Principle means is growing into a major conflict between US and European legislators.
The "precautionary principle," is enshrined in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty among EU members, whereas the US agrues that the principle is already incorporated into its testing regimes. For more

..and click graphic for more on the differences between EU & US in relation to GM Food