When you leave on a journey, would you rather use a map (one that may not be 100 percent accurate, but is regularly being checked and updated), or just a compass which in the past has proven to not work very well? If you use the broken compass, at what point will you realize you are lost? That is the difference between trusting science (using maps) or using the precautionary principle as your guiding tool.
The precautionary principle is like a bad compass – when it points us in the wrong direction, it could take a while before we realize we are lost. At that point, when we conclude that we must have taken a wrong turn, the question would not be: Why did I trust this bloody thing? But rather: How do I get somewhere from where I am? We don’t seem able to accept that the compass is useless.
Those who think that the precautionary principle is a compass to direct us where we need to go believe that precaution should be used at the outset (the so-called David Gee “reversal of the burden of proof” that has perverted what used to be a reasonable policy tool – see my earlier views). I’ll argue here that using the David Gee version of precaution is like heading out on a journey with a broken compass (and no map). Only an idiot, or someone extremely sure of themselves, would be so reckless......To Read More.....
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