The residence of Sherborn, have been very worried recently because their drinking wells have been contaminated by a coloform bacteria. The town said that the water is now clean but precautionary steps are still being taken to clean the water. This is an explicit use of the precautionary principle. The use of the precautionary principle in this case is very good. There was a risk of E-coli and fecal matter in the water, causing the Board of Selectmen to start adding chlorine to kill the bacteria. The Board is taking precautions because the bacteria in the water can possibly kill people or make them sick. By adding the chlorine to the water to kill the other bacteria, it is making the water safer to drink. However, the long term use of chlorine is not healthy to the human body or soil where it is used. Because the chlorine is so harmful, it will only be used for a small period of time and the ultraviolet lights, iron filters, and water softeners will be replaced. The precautionary principle is very good in this situation for both the people’s health and the economy of the town. If no action had been taken, people may have gotten sick and needed health care. This would cost the government money and they might have been sued. I think that using the precautionary principle here to chlorinate well water is a very good idea and I strongly agree.
Cronin, Jon. "Sherborn Selectmen deal with Woodhaven water woes." Wicked Local 21 Oct 2009, Print.
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I think you did a great job of identifying the precautionary principle in this article, and you are right this is an excellent example. It clearly explains that if there is no action taken to clean the drinking water, there is a high probability that people will get sick, but there is no way of knowing for sure. So the government decided to take action, to be on the safe side.
ReplyDeleteThe post clearly states the steps towards the use of the precautionary principle. However i'm just not sure about their final decision. I mean chlorine amounts have been used a lot in pools, does that mean professional swimmers who are exposed to large amounts of chlorine have a shortened life?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Newton; chlorine must only be harmful in very high levels. It is by far a better use of the precautionary principle to be cautioned against sick and death due to contamination than to be cautioned against possible long term effects from the use of chlorine to purify. Good analysis!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that chlorinating the water is the best choice. It is very concise and the precautionary principle is well explained. If they don’t chlorinate the water the heath problems from the coloform bacteria would be worse than the effect of the chlorine is they do.
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