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Taking precaution
At Bayer CropScience precaution is an indispensable condition of the way we go about our agricultural research, development and other activities. Judicious precaution is achieved through sound state-of-the-art scientific knowledge, built on a tradition of professional expertise and continuous exchange of information with the global community of scientists, customers and stakeholders. This ensures that the rigorous safety evaluations which our products have to pass prior to authorization are invariably based on the best and most current scientific information available.
Bayer CropScience supports the application of precaution within a business culture of innovation, product stewardship, transparency and open dialogue. However, we recognize and acknowledge that perceptions of what constitutes an acceptable level of precaution will naturally vary depending on the knowledge, perspectives and interests of stakeholders. For this reason, precautionary measures need to be applied wisely and must be linked to rigorous scientific evaluations that fully consider relevant factors, including uncertainties and consequential risks.
Today, there is a growing call for the application of the ‘Precautionary Principle’ to the evaluation of new technologies. This trend is about to modify the way society looks at innovations: rather than seeking to avoid a defined risk, it is the potential risk that will be increasingly targeted for elimination. In its extreme, this view of precaution has the potential to hold back innovation and limit the ability of society to balance needs and risks in pragmatic ways.
Bayer CropScience supports the application of a ‘Precautionary Approach’ in line with Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration* (and endorsed in the Johannesburg Plan Of Implementation §23 by the international community at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, 2002), so long as:
*Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration of The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3 -14 June 1992: “In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”
Bayer CropScience supports the application of precaution within a business culture of innovation, product stewardship, transparency and open dialogue. However, we recognize and acknowledge that perceptions of what constitutes an acceptable level of precaution will naturally vary depending on the knowledge, perspectives and interests of stakeholders. For this reason, precautionary measures need to be applied wisely and must be linked to rigorous scientific evaluations that fully consider relevant factors, including uncertainties and consequential risks.
Today, there is a growing call for the application of the ‘Precautionary Principle’ to the evaluation of new technologies. This trend is about to modify the way society looks at innovations: rather than seeking to avoid a defined risk, it is the potential risk that will be increasingly targeted for elimination. In its extreme, this view of precaution has the potential to hold back innovation and limit the ability of society to balance needs and risks in pragmatic ways.
Bayer CropScience supports the application of a ‘Precautionary Approach’ in line with Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration* (and endorsed in the Johannesburg Plan Of Implementation §23 by the international community at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, 2002), so long as:
- preventive measures are taken when faced with scientific uncertainty regarding unacceptable consequences for human health or the environment;
- preventive measures are taken following a science-based safety evaluation that leaves credible evidence of the potential for serious or irreversible effects;
- it can be assured that the preventive (regulatory) measures taken are proportionate to the objective to be achieved or the risk to be avoided;
- if restrictive regulatory measures are provisional then there should be a review period that allows on-going scientific evaluation to clarify further the potential risk.
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*Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration of The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3 -14 June 1992: “In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”
[ last update: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 ]
