title: [The fundamentals of precaution].
abstract: The precautionary principle appeared in the health vocabulary, especially in blood transfusion, at the beginning of the 1990s. It is applied to potential risks in case of scientific doubt and corresponds to an hypothesis of risk that must be completely distinguished from the case of an exceptional residual risk. This principle lies on two innovations: the breach of the link between scientific knowledge and decision, and the creation of a context for a new normative value. Because of their consequences, these innovations should generate a debate between professionals about the caution principle's foundations, its conditions of application, and its judicial drawbacks. This article, mainly dealing with the foundations of caution, will also present the social construction of the precaution, its judicial aspects, as well as the change in the relationship to risks induced by it.
authors.affiliation: hergon@ints.fr
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hergon
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trémeaux-Chiboub
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: André
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rouger
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000592:standards*; D002170:Canada; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003657:Decision Making; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005602:France; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011634:Public Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012306:Risk; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012449:Safety; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D065227:Transfusion Reaction; D014481:United States