"Potential risks should, of course, be taken into consideration before proceeding with any new activity or product, whether it is the siting of a power plant or the introduction of a new drug into the pharmacy. But the precautionary principle focuses solely on the possibility that technologies could pose unique, extreme, or unmanageable risks, even after considerable testing has already been conducted. What is missing from precautionary calculus is an acknowledgment that even when technologies introduce new risks, most confer net benefits ó that is, their use reduces many other, often far more serious, hazards. Examples include blood transfusions, mri scans, and automobile air bags, all of which offer immense benefits and only minimal risk."
