Prior Informed Consent is a well-defined term in law and medicine. It means that before one is subjected to a risk, especially a risk of bodily harm, one is entitled to be fully informed well in advance, so as to make an informed decision about whether to undergo the treatment or eat some food or medicine that has undergone that treatment. A closely related issue is that of mandatory labelling of irradiated food or genetically modified organisms, without which, the consumer simply cannot tell that these risks apply. Biosafety advocates prefer the Precautionary Principle but have accepted PIC as the basis of the Montreal Biosafety Protocol agreed in 2000.
