Europe’s risk aversion affects the whole world

Daniel Dalton | 14th April 2021 | Uncategorised

From digital policy to transport, the EU's overly prescriptive approach to risk is unwise and costly.

The European Union doesn’t have a healthy way of managing risk. This was graphically demonstrated in March when many EU countries temporarily banned the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, against the advice of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and in the absence of any conclusive evidence that it was causing any harm. This was not an isolated case. The “precautionary principle” has been a defining characteristic of the European approach to managing risk for over two decades. It mandates caution until there is clear scientific evidence that something is safe, even if the alternatives are known to be less safe or clean. It is the chief inspiration behind the “hazard”-based approach to regulating potentially dangerous substances, which now governs chemical approvals and is increasingly becoming the basis for EU restrictions on pesticides and GMO crops. It is not confined to the European Union alone: its member states are equally as guilty. Germany ordered the closure of its n...

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