As these exotic poisons entered food chains, they collected in the bodies of the largest predators, chief among them humans. As a result, even today if human breast milk were bottled and offered for sale it would be subject to ban by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as unfit for human consumption. Immune system disorders in children, such as asthma, increased even more rapidly. The U.S. banned above-ground nuclear weapons tests to eliminate radioactive fallout. By the mid-1970s, the atomic fallout precedent was being applied to banning DDT, PCBs, leaded gasoline and several other dangerous toxicants.
Bans are the essence of pollution prevention.
But bans leave no wiggle room for the polluters. The precautionary principle. The precautionary principle moves the burden of proof of safety onto the proponents of a new project, a new technology or a new chemical. Instead the polluters have to convince the public and the government that the number of dead bodies in future will be acceptably small. Corporate polluters resent this innovative approach because now they must bear the burden of proof of safety.