Precautionary Principle From Vision Statement to Practical Policy

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Precautionary Principle From Vision
Statement to Practical Policy
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The Goal Transforming the way we make decisions

• Instead of asking, "How much environmental harm
  will be allowed?, in San Francisco,
  decision-makers will ask a very different
  question "How little harm is possible?"

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What Got San Franciscos Attention?

• Local Community Interest
• Bay Area Working Group on the Precautionary
  Principle
• Breast Cancer Fund
• Commonweal
• Center for Environmental Health
• Mayor
• Commission on the Environment
• Department of the Environment

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The Public Process

• Direction from elected officials
• 18 months of public meetings
• Input from business groups
• Committee on Jobs
• Chamber of Commerce
• Labor Unions
• American Chemistry Council
• Consultation with subject matter experts

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Precautionary Principle and Risk

• We acknowledge that our world will never be free
  from risk. However, a risk that is unnecessary,
  and not freely chosen, is never acceptable.

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Precautionary Principle and Science

• San Francisco's Precautionary Principle insists
  that environmental decision-making be based on
  rigorous science -- science that is explicit
  about what is known, what is not known and what
  may never be known about potential hazards.

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The Precautionary ApproachRisk vs. Alternatives
Assessments

• Alternatives Assess.
• Is this potentially hazardous activity (product)
  necessary?
• What less hazardous options are available?
• How little damage is possible?

• Risk Assessment
• What is an acceptable level of harm? (i.e. of
  cancers in 1000 people)
• Does this activity (product) fall within that
  acceptable level?

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The alternatives assessment is also a public
process because, locally or internationally, the
public bears the ecological and health
consequences of environmental decisions.
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The Precautionary Principle does not determine
the outcome, it creates a process.
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Five Tenets of SF Ordinance

• 1. Duty to take anticipatory action to prevent
  harm
• Historically, environmentally harmful activities
  have only been stopped after they have manifested
  extreme environmental degradation or exposed
  people to harm.

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Waiting Too Long?

• Lead in gasoline, paint
• Asbestos in building materials
• Tobacco
• PCBs, DDT, CFCs
• PVC, Brominated Flame Retardants
• Global Warming

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Five Tenets of SF Ordinance

• 2. Right to know complete and accurate
  information burden to supply this information
  lies with the proponent not the general public
• Potential human health and environmental impacts
  are often not disclosed or even known
• Examples Inerts in pesticides Only 10 of
  some 80,000 chemicals in commerce have full range
  of health effects data

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Five Tenets of SF Ordinance

• 3. Duty to examine a full range of alternatives,
  including doing nothing
• Obligation to select alternative with least
  potential negative impact
• Selecting which alternative is preferable is a
  political/public decision
• Examples Least toxic cleaning products
  Alternatives to pesticides Increase in bike
  paths

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Five Tenets of SF Ordinance

• 4. Must consider the full range of costs,
  including costs outside the initial price
• All reasonable foreseeable costs such as raw
  materials, transportation, manufacturing, clean
  up, disposal
• Examples Green Buildings Power generation

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Five Tenets of SF Ordinance

• 5. Decisions must be transparent, participatory,
  and informed by the best available information
• A government's course of action is necessarily
  enriched by broadly based public participation.
• This concept of environmental democracy is
  deeply ingrained in San Francisco's Precautionary
  Principle.

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SF Implementation

• Regulations
• Integrated Pest Management
• Arsenic-treated wood
• Purchasing
• Green Building
• New Avenues for Discussion
• Recycled Water
• Power Plant Development
• Links to Environmental Justice
• Land Use/Zoning Decisions
• More possibilities.

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The Precautionary Principle

• ? Zero risk
• ? Zero science
• ? Loss of jobs
• ?Predetermined outcome
• (i.e. ban)

• Minimize harm
• Maximize information/ science
• Increase innovation
• Transparent Process for public decision making

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Re-defining the Central Question for Decision
Makers

• It is NOT sufficient to ask
• Is it legal?
• Is it safe?
• We Also MUST ask
• Is it necessary?

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ImplementationPrecautionary Purchasing
Ordinance
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The Problem

• If its legal to buy it must be safe to use

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The ProblemWhat we dont know may hurt us

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Search for Alternatives The Solution
Low mercury- high efficiency
Green Flamer
California Academy of Sciences
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Precautionary Purchasing Ordinance

• Supervisor Sophie Maxwell sponsor
• To be introduced to Board in April
• Specific role for Commission on the Environment

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Precautionary Purchasing Ordinance

• Incorporates the 5 tenets in City purchases
• Involves the public
• Asks for full disclosure on ingredients
• Selection of safest alternative
• Consideration of life-cycle type costs
• Honors Citys obligation to prevent harm

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Role of the Commission

• ACTION Selection/Prioritization of
• Targeted Product Categories
• INFO Review of selection criteria
• INFO Review of approved list of products
• INFO Annual reporting

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The Precautionary Principle sets up a process
that allows decision makers to ask the questions

• Is it necessary?
• Is a safer alternative available?