Ewald F
Fédération Française des Sociétés d'Assurances, Paris.
Bull Acad Natl Med. 2000;184(5):881-94; discussion 894-5.
It is important to distinguish between the idea of the "precautionary principle", a precise concept that made its appearance under specific circumstances in the 70s in order to respond to certain environment-related issues, and the idea of "precaution", itself more or less confused with the idea of "caution", a term used to describe a general attitude to risk and uncertainty. Although it is easy to identify the notion of "precaution" with a general philosophy of responsibility, the "precautionary principle" has no meaning except when used to describe public precautionary policies. And though we cannot give a precise definition of the idea of precaution, in the sense of caution, we can however give a precise description of the "precautionary principle", based on the techniques, always specific, which are implemented in the name of the precautionary principle. In France we have developed the habit of considering precautionary actions as part of an overall moral principle, while totally disregarding the laws defining the "precautionary principle" and including it within the power framework of state policy. It is essential to clear up this confusion, along with all of its potentially dangerous legal consequences, before we can envisage an informed discussion on the "precautionary principle", its field of application and the conditions governing its implementation.
区分“预防原则”的理念与“预防”的理念很重要。“预防原则”是一个精确的概念，它在20世纪70年代的特定情况下出现，以应对某些与环境相关的问题；而“预防”的理念本身或多或少与“谨慎”的理念混淆，“谨慎”一词用于描述对风险和不确定性的一般态度。虽然很容易将“预防”的概念与一般的责任理念联系起来，但“预防原则”只有在用于描述公共预防政策时才有意义。尽管我们无法从谨慎的意义上对预防的概念给出精确的定义，但我们可以基于以预防原则之名实施的、总是特定的技术，对“预防原则”给出精确的描述。在法国，我们养成了将预防行动视为总体道德原则一部分的习惯，却完全忽视了界定“预防原则”并将其纳入国家政策权力框架的法律。在我们能够设想就“预防原则”、其适用范围和实施条件进行明智的讨论之前，消除这种混淆及其所有潜在的危险法律后果至关重要。
