Regulators cope every day with applying science-based standards to complex fact situations. The task is tough enough when the science is relatively certain but when the science is not so clear--and this is far more common than is generally recognized--then the regulator faces a truly daunting challenge.

In recent years, the precautionary principle has emerged as a recommended approach to deal with uncertain science in a range of public health areas. Famously enshrined in the preamble to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and incorporated into the Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulations (CDSR), the precautionary principle continues to be cited by public servants to justify decisions: they are told in the CDSR that "the application of precaution may be necessary when there is an absence of full scientific certainty and a risk of serious or irreversible harm."

View full article - The Uses and Abuses of the Precauctionary Principle