Engelhardt H Tristram, Jotterand Fabrice
Department of Philosophy, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
J Med Philos. 2004 Jun;29(3):301-12. doi: 10.1080/03605310490500518.
This essay examines an overlooked element of the precautionary principle: a prudent assessment of the long-range or remote catastrophes possibly associated with technological development must include the catastrophes that may take place because of the absence of such technologies. In short, this brief essay attempts to turn the precautionary principle on its head by arguing that, (1) if the long-term survival of any life form is precarious, and if the survival of the current human population is particularly precarious, especially given contemporary urban population densities, and (2) if technological innovation and progress are necessary in order rapidly to adapt humans to meet environmental threats that would otherwise be catastrophic on a large scale (e.g., pandemics of highly lethal diseases), then (3) the development of biomedical technologies in many forms, but in particular including human germ-line genetic engineering, may be required by the precautionary principle, given the prospect of the obliteration of humans in the absence of such enhanced biotechnology. The precautionary principle thus properly understood requires an ethos that should generally support technological innovation, at least in particular areas of biotechnology.
对可能与技术发展相关的长期或遥远灾难进行审慎评估时，必须将因缺乏此类技术可能发生的灾难纳入考量。简而言之，这篇短文试图将预防原则颠倒过来，其论点如下：（1）如果任何生命形式的长期生存都岌岌可危，且当前人类的生存尤其不稳定，特别是考虑到当代城市人口密度；（2）如果技术创新与进步对于人类迅速适应环境威胁（否则将造成大规模灾难性后果，如高致死性疾病的大流行）是必要的；那么（3）鉴于在缺乏此类先进生物技术的情况下人类可能灭绝的前景，预防原则可能要求多种形式的生物医学技术发展，特别是包括人类生殖系基因工程。因此，正确理解的预防原则需要一种精神气质，这种精神气质通常应支持技术创新，至少在生物技术的特定领域应如此。
