The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal [Hardcover]

Indur M. Goklanv (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2001

Goklany argues that selective application of this principle distorts the policy debate.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Until recently, both the American mindset and the American economy have been particularly insular. Larsson, a doctoral student and freelance writer, brings home the new world perspective in this highly personal book about the effects of globalization on large and small companies in various communities throughout the world. A Swede by birth, Larsson writes from the unusual perspective (for American readers) of firsthand experiences in Brazil, Hong Kong, and Thailand (he has a Thai wife). In this respect, his book has considerable value and makes a good companion to Thomas L. Friedman's recent overview of globalization, The Lexus and the Olive Tree (LJ 4/15/99). Larsson, who focuses on the more positive results of a global economy, provides a number of noteworthy comments on concepts such as "dumping" as it relates to prosperity, though he illustrates his points heavily with anecdotes rather than charts and figures. Libraries that specialize in economics may find this book of value. Steven Silkunas, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Philadelphia
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 124 pages
• Publisher: Cato Institute (September 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930865163
• ISBN-13: 978-1930865167
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #883,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read Examination of the Precautionary Principle, September 4, 2003

By 

From The Independent Review (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal (Hardcover)

"Environmental scholar Indur Goklany disagrees with both the UN and the EU visions. In his new book The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal of Environmental Risk Assessment, he makes a powerful case that many environmentalists have misapplied the plain language of the precautionary principle, a concept he argues was intended originally to be a general notion recommending that policymakers choose rules to produce net reductions in environmental and public-health risks. Instead, environmentalists have turned the precautionary principle into a regulatory nightmare, transforming precaution into something quite different.

Goklany takes a novel tack, arguing that the attraction the precautionary principle holds for many in the general public is that its plain language indicates only a "look before you leap" sensibility that strikes people as intuitively reasonable. Read properly, the precautionary principle compels regulators to look, but then to let people leap when the evidence indicates that a technology will yield net benefits. In Goklany's interpretation, the precautionary principle insists that both the risks of adopting a new technology and the risks of technological stagnation be examined in regulatory decision making. According to him, genuine precaution is impossible without conducting some sort of risk-risk assessment. By pushing this view, he rejects many European environmentalists' claim that risk analysis is ineffective as a barometer of the environmental costs of economic activities."

-From "The Independent Review," Fall 2002

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An intelligent critique of unprincipled precaution, March 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal (Hardcover)

Goklany's "Precautionary Principle" is a thoughtful examination of this political paradigm. In its basic form, the precautionary principle states that harmful actions should be prevented or halted, even if evidence of harm is incomplete. Although this ideal seems reasonable on its surface, it has resulted in a number of undesirable consequences that beg for a better solution. These negative consequences are so common and so expensive as to suggest that the principle itself is lacking or applied wrongly. I like to call it, "unprincipled precaution," rather than precautionary principle, because its mindless application has been so destructive.

Goklany rightly goes to the core of the problem: devotees of this "principle" typically see only Type 1 Errors and are blind to Type 2 Errors. Type 1 Errors are errors of commission. Type 2 Errors are errors of omission.

This book covers many examples of regulatory actions taken under the rubric of the precautionary principle to avoid Type 1 Errors which led to Type 2 errors with equal or greater negative consequences.

Goklany avoids preaching, but it is hard to escape the conclusion that many of the devotees of the precautionary principle are zealots with an ax to grind. Otherwise it is hard to understand their unwillingness to consider the effects Type 2 Errors that accompany they regulatory actions they seek.

Instead of trashing the precautionary principle, Goklany proposes a more balanced approach to risk, in which both Type 1 and Type 2 Errors are considered and their effects are balanced in any given case. The application of his approach is discussed for several contemporary examples that give the book its substance.

Any discussion of risk assessment and the precautionary principle shooed consider the merits of Goklany's arguments.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An intelligent critique of unprincipled precaution, March 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Precautionary Principle: A Critical Appraisal (Hardcover)

Goklany's "Precautionary Principle" is a thoughtful examination of this political paradigm. In its basic form, the precautionary principle states that harmful actions should be prevented or halted, even if evidence of harm is incomplete. Although this ideal seems reasonable on its surface, it has resulted in a number of undesirable consequences that beg for a better solution. These negative consequences are so common and so expensive as to suggest that the principle itself is lacking or applied wrongly. I like to call it, "unprincipled precaution," rather than precautionary principle, because its mindless application has been so destructive.

Goklany rightly goes to the core of the problem: devotees of this "principle" typically see only Type 1 Errors and are blind to Type 2 Errors. Type 1 Errors are errors of commission. Type 2 Errors are errors of omission.

This book covers many examples of regulatory actions taken under the rubric of the precautionary principle to avoid Type 1 Errors which led to Type 2 errors with equal or greater negative consequences.

Goklany avoids preaching, but it is hard to escape the conclusion that many of the devotees of the precautionary principle are zealots with an ax to grind. Otherwise it is hard to understand their unwillingness to consider the effects Type 2 Errors that accompany they regulatory actions they seek.

Instead of trashing the precautionary principle, Goklany proposes a more balanced approach to risk, in which both Type 1 and Type 2 Errors are considered and their effects are balanced in any given case. The application of his approach is discussed for several contemporary examples that give the book its substance.

Any discussion of risk assessment and the precautionary principle should consider the merits of Goklany's arguments.