Erring on the side of caution? The heterogeneity of public perceptions of biotechnology applications in the European Union.

The increasing development of new technologies related to the health and food industries involves both policy makers and society as a whole in decisions on the safety and marketing regulations of new biotechnology products. However, the regulation of biotechnology is characterized by incomplete expert knowledge, and consequently limited information is communicated to the public, which ultimately judges a technology. Given that regulation is politically driven, and assuming that decisions makers are accountable to the public, a reluctant and uninformed public might end up driving risk policy decisions. In such an environment, policy makers might search for ad hoc rules to cope with the lack of sufficient information. Among these rules, a controversial and widespread rule adopted by risk-averse decision makers is the so-called "precautionary principle."

Although multiple interpretations of the precautionary principle exist (Treich 2001), the mainstream interpretation would suggest that when there is a "lack of scientific certainty" regulation should be restrictive until science provides definitive proof of the risk (or lack of risk) to society, often referred to as "erring on the side of caution." In the extreme, societies that avoid all risks, the so-called zero-risk scena...

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