Precautionary Principle Quotes

The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.

We necessarily operate in an environment in which there's a great deal of uncertainty. In such an environment, it makes sense to use a risk-management approach to identify and avoid the big mistakes. That's one reason I favor a cautious approach.

It is better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that one Innocent Person should be condemned.

It would be foolish, in forming our expectations, to attach great weight to matters which are very uncertain.

The first instinct of the modern man is to get a law passed to forbid or prevent what, in his wisdom, he disapproves.

Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon.

Of two evils, the less is always to be chosen.

Over time, yes, countries will need to look at specific GMO products like they look at drugs today, where they don't approve them all. They look hard at the safety and the testing. And they make sure that the benefits far outweigh any of the downsides.

Too often, our concern for specific individuals today means neglecting crises that will harm countless people in the future.

Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.

People will spend vastly more to get what they regard as 100 percent safety than they will for 95 percent or 90 percent safety. It’s irrational of course.

One should proceed with caution. We may simply not be wise enough to do some of the kinds of engineering things that people are talking about doing.

No precautions, and no precautionary principle, can avoid problems that we do not yet foresee. We need a stance of problem-fixing, not just problem-avoidance.

We must respect the past, and mistrust the present, if we wish to provide for the safety of the future.

When gene therapy was believed to harbor latent risks, research was largely put on hold until the risks were better understood. Sometimes, the theoretical risks have led to a principle of absolutist precaution that impedes progress.

Because we aren't certain about the effects of GMOs, we must consider one of the guiding principles in science, the precautionary principle. Under this principle, if a policy or action could harm human health or the environment, we must not proceed until we know for sure what the impact will be. And it is up to those proposing the action or policy to prove that it is not harmful.

I don't want to sound too critical, but we're taking a wait-and-see approach on UltraViolet.

We had lead emitted in gasoline and in paint, painting generations of housing for an entire century, practically, before it was regulated. That's what I'm talking about, is that we have a regulatory system that is biased to protect profit and not to protect people. We need a much more precautionary and proactive regulatory system that is not influenced by the revolving door.

Instead of embracing change, the E.U.'s precautionary principle has held back progress.

If you spend most of your effort preventing bad things from happening you will also prevent many good things from happening.

To delay action until there Is one hundred percent certainty Is always to postpone political action forever.

There is less danger in fearing too much than too little.

In fact, it is often times a detriment for the Government to preemptively legislate on an issue before we can either define it or grasp its impact.

I always tell other people to protect against the downside, and not risk roughing on new ventures, but I never stuck to that rule myself.