Enrichment of the precautionary principle through mexican regulations in the face of the environmental crisis

Abstract

This research hypothesizes –through an interdisciplinary methodology of documentary analysis– that advances in labor regulations can contribute to the precautionary principle as a fundamental element of environmental law, stemming from the recent update to the Tables of occupational diseases and their valuation schedules. These tables explicitly correlate certain productive processes and occupational diseases to determine the employer’s responsibility when the work environment is inadequate. This raises the questions: What happens when these productive processes are not properly controlled within economic units and cause health damage to employees and other external people and comunnities? Can these tables be used to presume a risk of exposure to these diseases in neighboring communities or impacted localities? Consequently, it is considered that the valuation tables contribute to the precautionary principle from the labor field towards environmental justice, as they expand the evidence and governmental recognition of the causal link between the harmful effects of productive processes on people and ecosystems. They should be studied as an enriching element of the precautionary principle for the benefit of administering environmental justice.