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The San Francisco Precautionary Principle Ordinance

Chapter One of the Environment Code for the City and County of San Francisco states that all officers, boards, commissions, and departments of the City shall implement the Precautionary Principle in conducting the City and County's affairs. By taking this step, San Francisco's leaders and citizens affirm that:

  • People have a duty to take anticipatory action to prevent harm;

  • Proponents of products and services bear responsibility for the safety of those products and services;

  • Decision makers will examine a full range of alternatives and select alternatives with the least harmful impact on environmental health and human health;

  • Decisions will be participatory, transparent, and informed by the best available science and complete product information;

  • Decision makers will consider a full range of costs of products and services, including manufacturing, use, and disposal. Economic evaluations will broadly consider long-term costs and savings of environmental policies.

See Also:

New Fact Sheet - Precautionary Principle: Preventing Harm Before It Happens

11/21/03 Exposed: Industry Plans Dirty Tricks to Attack the Precautionary Principle! Read SF Chronicle story!

6/18/03 San Francisco Passes Historic Precautionary Principle Ordinance! Read SF Chronicle Editorial

See the San Francisco Draft Purchasing Ordinance

Greenaction Supports the Be Safe Campaign

For more information, contact:

Greenaction

(415) 248-5010

Precautionary Principle

Why we need it

  • The places we live, work, play, the water we drink, and the food we eat contain toxic chemicals, radioactive materials, genetically altered organisms, and more.
  • Many potentially toxic substances are stored in our bodies and passed on to our children.
  • Industrial chemicals and pesticides are widely released in large quantities into our environment.
  • Releasing potentially harmful substances into our surroundings and food is legal and permitted by government authorities, even though we have an understanding of how dangerous they really are.

What does it say?
The Precautionary Principle says that our first priority is protecting our health. It also calls for us to seek out the safest ways to accomplish our activities while recognizing the limits of our scientific knowledge.

What does it do?
It is a guiding principle for government officials, companies, and citizens to use in making decisions about potentially hazardous activities. It demands more complete scientific analysis of possible hazards and alternatives. It encourages us to be both cost-effective and caring, by preventing harm before it happens. It can protect our health in ways that current laws do not.

How will it help change things?
Incorporating the Precautionary Principle into laws, regulations, and policies would fundamentally change the way the environmental, land-use and health decisions are made, so that we can:

  • Take more health protective actions in the face of scientific uncertainty;
  • Select the safest alternative technologies and materials to meet our needs;
  • Require that producers, not the public, demonstrate that they have selected the safest alternative
  • Fully involve the public in making democratic decisions regarding their lives and health;
  • Move closer to creating sustainable communities by preventing harm from the outset.

How is it already used?
The Precautionary Principle is already incorporated into many international environmental agreements and European environmental policies. The Principle is central to the “Rio Declaration,” an international agreement signed by the U.S. in 1992 at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.

Many polluting industries oppose the Precautionary Principle because it forces them to take responsibility for their actions and change business as usual.

Local Efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area
Greenaction is a member of the Bay Area Precautionary Principle Working Group, which is a collaborative formed to promote the implementation of Precautionary Principle in the Bay Area. The goal of the Working Group is to correct fundamental flaws in government policies that allow harm to your health and environment. We will advocate for proactive policies to prevent harm before the damage is done, and to democratically choose the safest alternatives.