Cranor Carl F
Department of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
J Med Philos. 2004 Jun;29(3):259-79. doi: 10.1080/03605310490500491.
The idea of a precautionary principle (or precautionary principles) is beginning to come to the wider attention of the environmental community, governmental agencies, regulatory agencies, and the regulated community. Different precautionary principles have not been specified in detail, and, of course, this is difficult to do. Yet some specification must be done in order to understand it better and, if it is to be used for specific action-guidance, to implement it. Moreover, it is important to understand more about the principle, its background assumptions and its comparison with other principles to which we might subscribe. This paper explores aspects of the PP and its background assumptions and presuppositions, comparing them with those for risk assessment and other statements of the PP. It also briefly indicates how it resembles legal principles in addressing problems of uncertainty. Finally, it recapitulates two possible versions of the PP and suggests an application of it for an emerging threat to the environment and public health. This review suggests the PP has plausible applications and is not the radical principle some have suggested.
预防原则（或多项预防原则）的理念开始受到环境界、政府机构、监管机构以及受监管群体的广泛关注。不同的预防原则尚未得到详细明确，当然，这很难做到。然而，为了更好地理解它，并且如果要将其用于具体的行动指导并加以实施，就必须进行一定的明确。此外，更深入地了解该原则、其背景假设以及与我们可能认同的其他原则进行比较也很重要。本文探讨了预防原则及其背景假设和前提条件，并将它们与风险评估及预防原则的其他表述进行比较。文章还简要说明了它在处理不确定性问题时与法律原则的相似之处。最后，概括了预防原则的两个可能版本，并提出了将其应用于环境和公众健康新出现威胁的建议。这篇综述表明，预防原则有合理的应用，并非如一些人所认为的那样是激进的原则。
