Harms are a stock issue

Stock issues

In the formal speech competition genre known as policy debate, a widely-accepted doctrine or "debate theory" divides the deliberative elements of proving the resolution as affirmative affirmative into four logical issues, called the stock issues...

 in policy debate

Policy debate

Policy debate is a form of speech competition in which teams of two advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government or security discourse...

 which refer to problems inherent in the status quo

Status quo

Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...

. These problems may be either actual (occurring at the time of the policy decision) or potential (not currently occurring in the status quo, with but with the possibility of occurring in the future). In the case of potential harms, the policy offered by the affirmative

Affirmative (policy debate)

In policy debate, the affirmative is the team which affirms the resolution.The Affirmative side negates the negative.The affirmative team speaks first and last. They give four speeches:*First affirmative constructive...

functions as a preventative measure.