Summary
This bill amends the environmental conservation law and the executive law to establish the New York State Health Protection Act. The bill would make it state policy to take precautionary measures to protect public health and the environment. It further makes it state policy that, where threats of harm to human health or the environment exist, a lack of full scientific certainty about cause and effect is not sufficient to postpone state or local governments from taking the necessary precautionary actions.

Explanation
Public health policy has traditionally been driven by actual harm to individuals and the environment. Environmentally harmful activities have only been stopped after they have manifested extreme environmental degradation or exposed people to harm.

The central tenet of a precautionary approach to decision-making is that government, businesses and society as a whole have a duty to prevent harm to public health and the environment where credible evidence exists that harm is occurring or is likely to occur, even when the exact nature and full magnitude of that harm is not yet known. Precautionary decision-making involves the careful assessment of a broad range of options using the best available science and selecting the safest and most sustainable feasible solutions.

The proposed legislation would also establish criteria for implementing the precautionary principle in state and local government decision-making.  These include:

• the public’s right to information about public health and environmental risks;
• an assessment of alternatives that evaluate other options and assess the long- and short-term effects and costs of the proposed action or product; and
• public participation in decisions made that might affect public health or the environment

Learning to heed early warnings of harm, putting safety and prevention first, encouraging innovation, and creating and choosing the safest, most sustainable technologies, products and practices will help to ensure a high quality of life for all New Yorkers.

Environmental Advocates of New York strongly supports this bill.