IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jriskr/v9y2006i4p297-311.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Precaution, Science and Jurisprudence: a Test Case

Author

Listed:
  • I. Forrester
  • J. C. Hanekamp1

Abstract

This article discusses scientific, regulatory and social problems presented when there is a lack of scientific knowledge with regard to a risk. This question arises following the European Union's recent decision to ban virginiamycin, and the ruling on that decision by the European Court of First Instance in the Pfizer Animal Health case. The authors suggest that while policy-makers ostensibly pay due deference to scientific opinion, their final assessment of risk and application of the precautionary principle will be policy-driven rather than based on science. When in doubt, they may prefer to eliminate risk by imposing a ban, rather than conduct a proper risk/benefit analysis that includes the damage caused by banning a potentially useful product. Ian Forrester QC practises law in Brussels and is Visiting Professor at Glasgow University. He has represented a number of pharmaceutical companies in litigation concerning the precautionary principle. Jaap C. Hanekamp PhD was a cofounder and CEO of the scientific institute of the HAN Foundation, a body dedicated to the neutral exposition of scientific data. Dr Hanekamp supervised and was co-author of the HAN publication on antibiotic growth promoters, one of the controversies examined in this article.

Suggested Citation

  • I. Forrester & J. C. Hanekamp1, 2006. "Precaution, Science and Jurisprudence: a Test Case," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 297-311, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jriskr:v:9:y:2006:i:4:p:297-311
    DOI: 10.1080/13669870500042974
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13669870500042974
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13669870500042974?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Louis A. Cox & Douglas A. Popken, 2004. "Quantifying Human Health Risks from Virginiamycin Used in Chickens," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 271-288, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jaap C. Hanekamp & Aalt Bast, 2008. "Why RDAs and ULs Are Incompatible Standards in the U‐Shape Micronutrient Model: A Philosophically Orientated Analysis of Micronutrients' Standardizations," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1639-1652, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Louis Anthony (Tony) Cox, Jr & Douglas A. Popken, 2008. "Overcoming Confirmation Bias in Causal Attribution: A Case Study of Antibiotic Resistance Risks," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1155-1172, October.
    2. Louis Anthony Cox & Douglas A. Popken & Jian Sun & Xiao‐ping Liao & Liang‐Xing Fang, 2020. "Quantifying Human Health Risks from Virginiamycin Use in Food Animals in China," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(6), pages 1244-1257, June.
    3. Louis Anthony (Tony) Cox Jr & Douglas A. Popken, 2010. "Assessing Potential Human Health Hazards and Benefits from Subtherapeutic Antibiotics in the United States: Tetracyclines as a Case Study," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 432-457, March.
    4. Louis Anthony Cox & Douglas A. Popken, 2004. "Bayesian Monte Carlo Uncertainty Analysis of Human Health Risks from Animal Antimicrobial Use in a Dynamic Model of Emerging Resistance," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(5), pages 1153-1164, October.
    5. Bethany Cooper & Walter O. Okello, 2021. "An economic lens to understanding antimicrobial resistance: disruptive cases to livestock and wastewater management in Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 65(4), pages 900-917, October.
    6. Louis Anthony (Tony) Cox & Djangir Babayev & William Huber, 2005. "Some Limitations of Qualitative Risk Rating Systems," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(3), pages 651-662, June.
    7. Louis Anthony (Tony) Cox, Jr. & Douglas A. Popken & Jeremy J. Mathers, 2009. "Human Health Risk Assessment of Penicillin/Aminopenicillin Resistance in Enterococci Due to Penicillin Use in Food Animals," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(6), pages 796-805, June.
    8. Louis Anthony (Tony) Cox & Douglas A. Popken, 2006. "Quantifying Potential Human Health Impacts of Animal Antibiotic Use: Enrofloxacin and Macrolides in Chickens," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 135-146, February.
    9. H. Gregg Claycamp, 2006. "Rapid Benefit‐Risk Assessments: No Escape from Expert Judgments in Risk Management," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 147-156, February.
    10. Louis Anthony Cox, 2006. "Animal Antibiotic Use and Human Health: No Expert Judgment is Needed to Determine that Reducing Cases Reduces Risk," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 157-161, February.
    11. H. Scott Hurd & Sasidhar Malladi, 2008. "A Stochastic Assessment of the Public Health Risks of the Use of Macrolide Antibiotics in Food Animals," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 695-710, June.
    12. Louis Anthony (Tony) Cox & Douglas A. Popken & Richard Carnevale, 2007. "Quantifying Human Health Risks from Animal Antimicrobials," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 37(1), pages 22-38, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jriskr:v:9:y:2006:i:4:p:297-311. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJRR20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.