This, inevitably, will raise tensions between our individual privacy and desire for proprietary information, and the need for verification to protect us all. We will undoubtedly encounter strong resistance to this loss of privacy and freedom of action. Calling for bans on research may get headlines, but people generally don't like the implications of international progress police pawing through the kids' science homework. It's a bit too creepy even for fans of freezing the world as it is. Before cloning humans or developing genetically enhanced crops or exploring other promising new areas of knowledge, advocates of the precautionary principle would require that scientists demonstrate that their efforts pose no risks.
Progress is good, as long as it's safe.
There are always risks and unintended consequences. But there are also consequences to standing still. If the precautionary principle had been applied from day one, it's doubtful that fire, the wheel, medicine, or any other innovation would have passed the test. The human race would still be back in caves, starving in the cold. Stasis can only be maintained by compulsion, since it requires that creative thinkers and inventors be suppressed.