Approaches from the Nordic Countries, EU and USA
This authoritative handbook addresses the legal aspects of how the precautionary principle is implemented in different sectors, and examines its successes, failures, strengths and weaknesses. Sectors and subjects covered include chemicals, GMOs, marine pollution, fisheries and nature conservation, and the book draws on cases in the EU, in the USA, and Nordic countries, where the use of precaution has been gathering momentum. Ultimately, the book provides an indispensable appraisal of the question - increasingly important in the era of human-induced climate change - of whether the precautionary principle is relevant, indeed essential, to avert major environmental and health risks, and how and when it can be used successfully. Published with MARIE CURIE ACTIONS
L. Fisher on Journal of Environmental Law (2008) wrote:The book edited by Nicolas de Sadeleer focuses in particular on the lessons that can be drawn from the experience of the Nordic countries, all of which have been in the vanguard of environmental protection. … His edited book is especially strong on providing empirical material.
A. Trouwborst on RECIEL (2008) wrote:This collection of essays is a thought provoking set of pieces by leading scholars who are often writing at quite an advanced level of legal knowledge about cutting edge issues in risks regulation. De Sadeleer is one of the most creative legal scholars working on precaution and his ideas are clearly framing much of the discussion in these essays… Overall then this collection of esssayrs are highlighting both the many problems and challenges involved in contemporary risk regulation and that implementing the precautionary principle, while a legitimate thing to do, is not straighforward.
This book constitutes an autoritative resource on all thing precautionary in the Nordic countries, and contributes substantially to the broader ongoing debate on the implementation of the precautionary principle in regional and national regulatory contexts.