Harm principle

Chemicals regulation is predominantly risk-based , in that only if there is clear evidence that there is a significant risk of a chemical causing a known type of harm is the production or use of the chemical subject to controls the aim of those controls is to reduce the risks associated with a chemical. The requirement to demonstrate harm, or a risk of harm, before restrictions can be placed on chemical production or use, is in accordance with the harm principle , one of the major tenets of the political philosophy of liberalism. The harm principle holds that the government should only interfere with the actions of the individual if those actions cause harm to others. In Chapter 8 I consider the arguments put forward by liberals in defence of the harm principle and conclude that they do not justify its application to the industrial production of chemicals. 

Liberalism is concerned first and foremost with the preservation of the freedom of the individual. Freedom is understood as the absence of constraints on individual action and is exercised in the private sphere. The role of government is to protect this private sphere and its rights and freedoms, so government should not interfere in the actions of individuals unless such interference is warranted by the need to protect the rights and freedoms of others, in other words where the individual s actions cause harm to others this is the harm principle. 

One line of argument for why government action should be limited to what is justified by the harm principle is that government should not impose particular... 

It should be noted that the classic formulation of the harm principle by Mill refers to actions of individuals and that it is with the individual that both liberal justifications for the harm principle are concerned. The principle is justified by the need to protect the rights of individuals to live according to their own beliefs,... 

In response it might be argued that restrictions on the actions of companies should be regarded as restrictions on the actions of the real human persons who own or run them, and that therefore the harm principle can appropriately be applied. However, it is questionable whether a company is the human individuals who own it or run it, and thus that the freedom of these individuals is restricted by restrictions on the company. A case for the identity of a company with particular human individuals can probably be made with respect to small, private companies. In such companies one or a small number of individuals is clearly responsible for what the company does and can be said to be the company. But this case is less easily made for large corporations, owned by anonymous shareholders, where it is difficult to hold to account any particular individuals for the actions of the company.10 In such companies all the key individual human beings may change while the company remains the same company. 

Fluid-solid heat transfers numerical simulations are mostly betweenrigid boundaries (Lowndes 2006). Considering of the underground heat harm principle, the numerical simulation researches of... 

Imminent risk or danger is defined in SEMS II as a condition, activity or practice in the workplace that could reasonably be expected to cause death, or serious physical or environmental harm. Principles for Federal Engagement in Standards ActivitiestoAddressNational Priorities, Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, Executive Office of the President Office of Management and Budget (]anuary 17,2012). 

Cranor, C.F. (2008) Do You Want to Bet Your Children s Health on Post-market Harm Principles An Argument for a Trespass or Permission Model for Regulating Toxicants , Villanova Environmental Law Journal 19(2) 215-314. 

It is here that I must examine briefly an argument which is heard daily, and which considers any curtailment of the right, which parlements formerly had, of rejecting Edicts which appeared unjust to them to be a harmful principle. It was a dyke, they say, which prevented the people from being suffocated under the arbitrary power of the monarch. The rupture of this barrier ought to be compared to the blow which Aeolus dealt to the mountain which served to imprison the winds. 

The harmful effects of industrial emissions are not confined to the workers but extend beyond the plant boundary line. Chemically-induced diseases among workers exposed to industrial chemicals are a warning sign of the risks to which a larger population is also being exposed usually the chemical hazards are in principle similar in the occupational and general environment. However, occasionally environmental exposures can be qualitatively different from the occupational environment and may also cause deleterious health effects in the general population. 

One factor that has done a great deal to harm the reputation of plastics is that in many cases designers and engineers have, after deciding tentatively to try to introduce plastics, then lavishly copied the metal product it was to replace. Too much emphasis cannot be given to the general principle that plastics are to be used based on their behavior... 

Product safety is an underlying principle for all products. Ideally, the product should do no harm. Thus, the regulations require that the developer or manufacturer must take appropriate steps to demonstrate and ensure the safety of the product under development. 

The text is divided into three parts. The first deals with the basic principles underlying the environmental behavior and effects of organic pollutants the second describes the properties and ecotoxicology of major pollutants in reasonable detail the last discusses some issues that arise after consideration of the material in the second part of the text, and looks at future prospects. The groups of compounds represented in the second part of the book are all regarded as pollutants rather than simply contaminants, because they have the potential to cause adverse biological effects at realistic environmental levels. In most cases these effects have been well documented under environmental conditions. The term adverse effects includes harmful effects upon individual organisms, as well as effects at the level of population and above. 

Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has recently estabhshed preferred chemical principles for the chemical products they sell. In addition, they have established a Chemical Intensive Products (CIP) Network whose stated mission is to provide to our customers affordable and effective products where aU chemical ingredients are preferred for Mother, Child and the Environment delivered in the most efficient and effective way . In practice, this means that when an ingredient in a product or the product itself is considered to be capable of causing harm to human health and the environment, Wal-Mart will act to find better alternatives. 

We have cited the case of epoxidation with peracids earlier in this book. A cross-linked polymethacrylic acid can, in principle, be treated with a sulphonic acid catalyst and H2O2 to give the peracid, which will allow epoxidation to be carried out in a convenient way, while the polymer can be reused. The key advantage is that the product stream does not contain an acid, which may be harmful in several ways. 

Two guiding principles to consider when treating patients with antimicrobials are (1) make the diagnosis and (2) do no harm ... 

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