From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Jan 20 2003 - 17:49:43 MST
> <<Are You Better Safe Than Sorry?
> by Hans Labohm [ 01/17/2003 ]
>
> 'Better safe than sorry.' This is the crux of the precautionary principle.
> ...
This article is far too sympathetic to the PP. The principle is,
per se, immoral. Caution kills people.
The very idea of the precautionary principle is deadly: it is the
idea that we should accept the status quo (which is that everyone
dies) until we are 100% sure that any particular technology is "safe",
whatever that means. So while new technologies and new research come
out that offer hope of better, longer lives, we should wait, and let
people continue to die without their benefits, until some arbitrary
level of proof is attained that there is very little risk, regardless
of the potential benefit. This is not a position any sane or
compassionate person could possibly support. Every individual has
the right to determine for himself how he will weigh the benefits
and risks of any single technology that might affect his life, and
those who would deny him that right are no better than thugs driving
a knife into his back.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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