Editing Precautionary principle (section)

===Internal inconsistency: applying strong PP risks causing harm===
Strong formulations of the precautionary principle, without regard to its most basic provisions (i.e., that it is to be applied only where risks are potentially catastrophic ''and'' not easily calculable), when applied to the principle itself as a policy decision, beats its own purpose of reducing risk.<ref name="Beyond Laws of Fear"/>{{rp|26ff}} The reason suggested is that preventing innovation from coming to market means that only current technology may be used, and current technology itself may cause harm or leave needs unmet; there is a risk of causing harm by blocking innovation.<ref name = Guardian>Brown, Tracey (9 July 2013)[https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2013/jul/09/precautionary-principle-blunt-instrument The precautionary principle is a blunt instrument] ''[[The Guardian]]'', Retrieved 9 August 2013</ref><ref>Sherry Seethaler.  [https://archive.org/details/liesdamnedliessc0000seet Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to Sort through the Noise around Global Warming, the Latest Health Claims, and Other Scientific Controversies] FT Press, 2009</ref> As [[Michael Crichton]] wrote in his novel ''[[State of Fear]]'': "The 'precautionary principle', properly applied, forbids the precautionary principle."<ref name=CAST52>Merchant, G et al. [http://www.cast-science.org/download.cfm?PublicationID=276208&File=1030ac6763c4d6f3918b92e5a1345c4b8024TR Impact of the Precautionary Principle on Feeding Current and Future Generations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114011005/http://www.cast-science.org/download.cfm?PublicationID=276208&File=1030ac6763c4d6f3918b92e5a1345c4b8024TR |date=14 November 2013 }} CAST Issue Paper 52, June 2013</ref>

For example, forbidding [[nuclear power]] plants based on concerns about low-probability high-impact risks means continuing to rely on power plants that burn fossil fuels, which continue to release [[greenhouse gas]]es and thousands of certain deaths from [[air pollution]].<ref name="Beyond Laws of Fear" />{{rp|27}}

In 2021 in response to early reports about rare blood clots seen in 25 patients out of 20 million vaccinated by [[Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine|Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Miller |first1=Adam |title=Canada monitoring guidance on AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine amid potential link to blood clots |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/astrazeneca-blood-clot-risk-canada-1.5957462 |website=CBC |date=20 March 2021}}</ref> a number of European Union member states suspended the use of the vaccine, quoting the "precautionary principle". This was criticized by other EU states who refused to suspend the vaccination program, declaring that the "precautionary" decisions are focusing on the wrong risk, as delay in a vaccination program results in a larger number of certain deaths than any yet unconfirmed complications.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Waterfield|first=Bruno|title=The EU's risk aversion cost thousands of lives|newspaper=[[The Times]]|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/the-eus-risk-aversion-cost-thousands-of-lives-pzfdb9j8r|access-date=2021-03-25|issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

{{Main|European Commission–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine dispute}}

In another example, the Hazardous Air Pollutant provisions in the [[Clean Air Act (1990)|1990 amendments to the US Clean Air Act]] are an example of the Precautionary Principle where the onus is now on showing a listed compound is harmless. Under this rule no distinction is made between those air pollutants that provide a higher or lower risk, so operators tend to choose less-examined agents that are not on the existing list.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Goldstein BD, Carruth RS |title=Implications of the Precautionary Principle: is it a threat to science? |journal= International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health|volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=153–61 |year=2004 |pmid=15212219 }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=The very basis of the Precautionary Principle is to imagine the worst without supporting evidence... those with the darkest imaginations become the most influential.|author=[[Adam Curtis]]|source=[[The Power of Nightmares]]}}