The precautionary principle is steadily making its way toward the highest levels of international trade and food safety policy and shows few signs of faltering. The negotiation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in January 2000 first drew international attention to the principles regulatory leap from environmental risk assessment to food safety regulation. Since that time food industry organizations, food safety regulators and international trade officials have watched as the precautionary principle emerged in the deliberations of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), the legislation of the European Union (EU), the negotiation of international trade, and the food safety regulations of developing countries. Without concerted effort on the part of industry and government around the world, the precautionary principle may soon be integrated into the international trade agreements that form the backbone of the World Trade Organization (WTO). If this misapplication of the
