International Society of Doctors for the Environment
ISDE Resolution Affirming the
Precautionary Principle[1],[2]
WHEREAS
the injunction "First Do No Harm" has guided physicians since the
time of Hippocrates;
WHEREAS
for centuries the cornerstone of public health policy and practice has been the
prevention of injury and disease;
WHEREAS
physicians in practice and principle act expeditiously to prevent catastrophic
outcomes whenever sufficient indications are present to warrant precautionary
intervention;
WHEREAS
the most countries have adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development, which states in principle 15[3]:
"In
order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely
applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of
serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be
used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent
environmental degradation."
WHEREAS
the human race is experiencing warning signs that our bodies and the natural
world have limits to their abilities to absorb and overcome the harm from some
of our actions, technologies, and substances, and that in some cases these
limits have been reached or exceeded;
WHEREAS
these warning signs include the dying off of plant and animal species, the
depletion of stratospheric ozone, global climate instability and increased
rates of some cancers, reproductive disorders, learning disabilities,
respiratory diseases including asthma, and other environmentally related
illnesses;
WHEREAS
current environmental regulations are aimed primarily at controlling pollution
rather than taking the preventive approach of limiting the use, production, or
release of toxic materials in the first place;
WHEREAS
under the current system, enterprises, projects, technologies, and substances
are in effect "innocent until proven guilty", and the vast majority
of chemicals in production have not been adequately tested for their
independent, much less their synergistic, effects on humans and ecosystems;
WHEREAS
some producers of pollution have repeatedly used their influence to delay
preventive action, arguing that the immediate expense of redesign to achieve
pollution prevention is unwarranted in the face of any uncertainty about
eventual harmful health effects,
WHEREAS
physicians, who daily plan patient care based on a strategy of weighing
potential harm and gain, understanding the inescapable uncertainties inherent
in science and clinical medicine as well as the risk of inaction, now perceive
the need for the application of a precautionary, responsible, and therapeutic
approach to environmental health,
WHEREAS
the Precautionary Principle is considered to be an emerging general principle
of international environmental law[4][5]
(2,3);
WHEREAS,
in addition to the issue of pollution, precaution is required for addressing
environmental problems such as global climate instability, the loss of
biodiversity, and the destruction of marine fisheries, each of which may
threaten food supplies and lead to disastrous human health consequences;
WHEREAS
the US President's Council on Sustainable Development has established the
Precautionary Principle as one of its guiding principles[6];
Whereas the Maastrich
treaty establishing the European Union states that
Community policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection
taking into
account the diversity of
situations in the various regions of the Community. It shall be based on the
precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be
taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source
and that the polluter should pay.[7]
WHEREAS
the environment and health of 50 European countries ministers gathered in
London in June 99 reaffirmed their commitment to the precautionary principle[8]
WHEREAS
we believe that children and other sensitive populations are in particular need
of protection from environmentally related hazards;
THEREFORE
be it resolved that the International Society of Doctors for the Environment
ISDE endorses the Precautionary Principle and encourages government at all
levels, the private sector, and health professionals to promote and abide by
the precautionary principle in order to protect human health and the
environment;
Potential
Implementation Actions could include the following:
1. Advocating significant increases in pollution prevention efforts through a
broad-based approach to clean production, energy efficiency, waste minimization
and reduced consumption;
2. Identifying broadly understood goals for reducing exposure to toxic
chemicals, particularly in the vulnerable periods of prenatal and infant
development;
3. Educating politicians and the public about the application of the
precautionary approach to climate change, biodiversity, technology assessment,
potential industrial accidents, Genetically Modified Organisms and other issues
in addition to issues of toxic chemicals;
4. Encouraging the creation of further incentives to replace known toxic
chemicals with least toxic alternatives;
5. Supporting the growth of organic agriculture to reduce the use of toxic
chemicals in the agricultural sector;
6. Enunciating the urgent need for improved research methods to understand the
additive, cumulative, and synergistic effects of multiple stressors on human
health and ecosystems;
7. Advocating remediation of the environment where degradation has occurred
that constitutes a hazard to human health and ecosystems; and
8. Urging all countries to honour the Precautionary Principle during
negotiations of international agreements, while working to establish the
Precautionary Principle as a guiding principle of international environmental
law.
Appendix:
The Precautionary Principle
There
is no single exposition of the Precautionary Principle. The Rio Declaration
noted above is one of the earlier statements of the Principle.
A
more recent versions follow:
The
formulation of the Precautionary Principle promulgated by the participants
attending a meeting at the Wingspread Conference Center on January 23, 1998[9].
"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. In this context the proponent of an
activity rather than the public should bear the burden of proof. The process of
applying the Precautionary Principle must be open, informed, and democratic and
must involve potentially affected parties. The process must include a
comprehensive, systematic examination of the full range of alternatives,
including no action."
[1] Most of the Text is based on the PSR
Resolution Affirming the Precautionary Principle (www.psr.org)
which has been adapted for the international context
[2] Adopted by the ISDE Directing Board at its
meeting on 26 March 2000 in Bonn, Germany
[3] Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development, 31 ILM 874, June 14, 1992.
[4] Hickey, J. and V. Walter. Refining the
Precautionary Principle in International Environmental Law. Virginia
Environmental Law Journal 14: 423-436, 1995.
[5] Raffensberger C and Tickner J (eds.).
Implementing the Precautionary Principle. Island Press, Washington, DC, p. 356,
1999.
[6] President's Council on Sustainable Development.
Sustainable America: A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity and A Healthy
Environment for the Future, We Believe Statement, #10, February,1996.
[7] Art. 174.2 of the Amsterdam revision of the
Maastrich treaty
[8] Paragraph 44 of the London declaration of the
Third Ministerial conference on Environment and Health
[9] The Wingspread Statement of January 1998.
Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly, #586, February 19, 1998.