Tibbs and the precautionary principle

When a course of action might have a potentially serious impact, one approach is to adopt the precautionary principle. Rather than assuming something is safe until proven otherwise, the precautionary principle argues the opposite – that something should be considered potentially harmful unless shown to be safe.

While the precautionary principle aims to protect us against possible dangers, an excessively 'safety-first' approach may have its own drawbacks. For example, we may lose the benefits that a new technology might provide.

With Tibbs the cat, doubts about the safety of FelineFine may persuade us to stop using it. That may stop Tibbs being poisoned, but it might harm her in other ways.