Healthy Business Strategies - Clean Production Action

t H e P r e C A u t I o n A r y P r I n C I P l e
An official part of European Union policy, the Precautionary
Principle states that in order to protect the environment,
a precautionary approach should be widely applied,
meaning that where there are threats of serious or irreversible
damage to the environment, lack of full scientific
certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing
cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.
The precautionary principle permits a lower level
of proof of harm to be used in policy-making whenever the
consequences of waiting for higher levels of proof may be
very costly and/or irreversible.
chemical ignorance means they are also
ignorant of health effects their products may
have on their customers during use or
afterwards when the product is disposed of.
Because they do not see chemical safety as
part of corporate strategy, their typical first
response to fears of chemical concerns is
denial and opposition. In some cases, their
business strategy is to be compliant with the
law. But compliance alone is unhelpful as a
guide for corporate policy, given the u.S.’s
inadequate chemical regulatory system.
Companies that focus too narrowly on
compliance, especially when their sector or
products are targeted for inadequate safeguards,
face the risk of becoming entangled
in public relations battles and negative
attacks on their brand. At their worst, these
unenlightened firms attack the messenger—
questioning the plausibility of the science
and opposing government action to limit use
and exposure to toxic chemicals, all in an
effort to defend existing products and
markets.
Of course improving corporate chemical
consciousness is not like turning on a light
switch. The case study companies in this
report show that real investments in research,
development, testing, product
development and marketing are necessary.
Like any effort to change an existing product
line or introduce a new product line, they
dealt with the natural inertia to changing
product design, chemical use and relationships
with suppliers. And as our case studies
show, the rewards have been meaningful—
resulting in brand name enhancement, cost
savings, increased market value, product/
brand differentiation and employee loyalty.
Where do companies at the early phases of
this journey begin? What are important first
steps to take? Table 5 lists recommendations
from the six case study companies for increasing
chemical consciousness, developing
new materials and products and building
partnerships in the supply chain and with
trade associations and business groups.
healthy business strategies for transforming the toxic chemical economy