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This project examines the "precautionary principle" and its reflection in actual regulatory programs in the U.S. and Europe. It goes beyond the current rhetoric of greater European precaution (e.g. regarding biotechnology, beef hormones and climate change) to study a wider array of concrete examples, including instances of greater American precaution (e.g. nuclear power, leaded gasoline, smoking, and mad cow disease in blood), and thereby to foster mutual transatlantic understanding of the complexity of actual regulations across risks. The project analyzes why different societies choose different risks to worry most about, and provides recommendations for when precaution makes sense in light of both target and countervailing risks.
Through a series of three transatlantic dialogues, the project will compare the degree of precaution reflected in regulation of selected risks in selected countries, focusing on the United States (US) and Europe (including both the European Union [EU] and its member states). The project will thereby develop a better understanding of (1) the factors that influence the emergence and relative stringency of precautionary regulation, (2) the impacts of precautionary regulation in practice, and (3) when and to what degree precautionary regulation is desirable. This project will help move the discussion of precaution from fractious debate to functional dialogue by bringing a new depth and breadth of analysis to a mutually edifying conversation.
The Reality of Precaution
Project will convene a series of dialogue meetings based on a program
of comparative research. The goal of these Dialogues will be to improve
mutual learning and understanding among US and European experts and
policymakers, and to communicate the project's findings to these participants
and to the public. Each of the Dialogues will include US and European
participants from government agencies,
universities/research institutes, non-government organizations and the
private sector. This series of Dialogues will build on the conference
on precaution held in Bruges, Belgium in January 2002.
Dialogue 1
Bruges, Belgium - January 11-12, 2002
The US, Europe, Precaution and Risk Management:
A Comparative Case Study Analysis of the
Management of Risk in a Complex World
Bruges Conference Agenda [PDF] [Word]
Bruges Participant List [PDF] [Word]
Bruges Dialogue Report by the European Policy Centre
Dialogue
2
Airlie Center, Warrenton Virginia - June 13-15, 2002
The Reality of Precaution:
Comparing Approaches to Risk and Regulation
Airlie
Conference Agenda
Airlie Participant
Biographies [PDF]
[Word]
European
Commission/GOPA website - Airlie Dialogue Report
Dialogue
3
Berlin, Germany - June 19-21, 2003
The US, the EU, and Precaution:
Comparing Risk Management in a Complex World
Berlin Conference Agenda
(pdf)
Berlin Conference Participants
(pdf)
Berlin
Dialogue Report from the European
Policy Center
Dialogue
4
Duke
University
Durham, North Carolina - September 19 - 21, 2004
Risk
Management in a Complex World:
The Fourth Transatlantic Dialogue on Precaution
Agenda
with Presentations (pdf)
| Precaution conference
page
Wiener, J.B. "Whose Precaution After All? A Comment on the Comparison and Evolution of Risk Regulatory Systems," 13 Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 207-262, 2003.
Wiener, J.B. "Convergence, Divergence, and Complexity in US and European Risk Regulation." in Norman Vig & Michael Faure, eds., Green Giants: Environmental Policies of the United States and the European Union. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Forthcoming, 2003).
Wiener, J.B. & M.D. Rogers. "Comparing Precaution in the United States and Europe." Journal of Risk Research, 5 (4):317-349, 2002.
European Commission/GOPA website -- page on Science and Society Projects, including the Airlie Dialogue: Comparing Approaches to Risk and Regulation. http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/policy_advisers/activities/science_technology/index_en.htm
US Mission to the EU - - page on Risk Management and the Precautionary Principle. http://www.useu.be/RiskManagement/index.htm
