Genetically Engineered Crops Interim Policies, Uncertain Legislation

• About the Editor
• Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction. Genetic Engineering of Crops: Science Meets Civil Society’s Response
• Abbreviations
• PART I. SCIENCE AND THE FUTURE
• Chapter 1. The Birth of Synthetic Biology and the Genetic Mode of Production (Sheldon Krimsky)
• Biotechnology: Evolution or Revolution?
• First-Generation Fears About Gene Splicing: Laboratory Hazards
• Emerging Industrial Sectors
• Second-Generation Controversies: Environmental Releases of GEOs
• Third-Generation Biotech Controversies: Globalization
• Conclusion
• Chapter 2. Controversy Around Terminology and Novelty: Engineered, Modified Biotechnology and Transgenics (Brian Ellis)
• The Classic Period
• Mother Nature’s Genetic Engineer
• When in Doubt, Reach for Your Gun
• The Basic Toolkit
• Choosing Targets
• Round Two
• So Many Genes, So Much Time
• Conclusions
• Chapter 3. Transgenic Crops, Agrobiodiversity, and Agroecosystem Function (Miguel A. Altieri)
• Biotechnology and the Loss of Agrobiodiversity
• Ecological Effects of Hrcs
• Ecological Risks of Bt Crops
• General Conclusions and Recommendations
• Chapter 4. Ecological Risk Assessment of GE Crops: Getting the Science Fundamentals Right (Michelle Marvier and Sabrina West)
• Environmental Risk Assessment for GE Crops
• What Can We Learn from the Longer History of Classical Biological Control?
• Conclusion
• Chapter 5. Coping with Uncertainty: The Human Health Implications of GE Foods (Paul R. Billings and Peter Shorett)
• Introduction
• Food Is a Drug
• Using Toxicology and Epidemiology to Evaluate Food Safety
• Substantial Equivalence and Its Consequences
• Nutrition
• Allergenicity
• Toxicity
• Conclusion
• Chapter 6. Future Research Tackling the Technology Divide: A Research Agenda for Crop Biotechnology (Michael Korthals)
• Introduction
• The Current State of Affairs: Crisis in Governments, Markets, Civil Societies, and Science and Agriculture
• Plant-Biotechnology and Agriculture
• Seven Persistent Ethical Problems of Biotechnology
• Research Agendas of Natural and Social Sciences (Beta-gamma Interaction): Tackling the Problems
• Conclusion
• Chapter 7. Next Challenges for Crop GE: Maturing of Governance and Moves Beyond Food Issues (Iain E. P. Taylor)
• Introduction
• What Can Plants Do For Us?
• The Environmental Failure
• The Industrial Incentive
• The Regulatory Future
• Aquaculture
• Forestry
• Environmental Remediation
• PART II. ISSUES IN CURRENT GOVERNANCE
• Chapter 8. A Precautionary Framework for Biotechnology (Katherine Barrett and Conrad G. Brunk)
• Introduction
• The Debate About the Precautionary Principle
• Burden of Proof
• Standards of Safety
• Conclusion
• Chapter 9. The Precautionary Principle and Biotechnology: Guiding a Public Interest Research Agenda (Carolyn Raffensperger)
• Introduction
• The Precautionary Principle
• Ethics
• Precautionary Research: A New Social Contract
• Public Money for Private Interest
• Public Interest Research
• Local to Global
• Legal Challenges
• Chapter 10. Trade, Science, and Canada’s Regulatory Framework for Determining the Environmental Safety of GE Crops (Elisabeth A. Abergel)
• Regulatory and Economic Uncertainty
• Market Disputes
• Canada’s Risk-Based Approach
• Herbicide-Tolerant Canola
• Scientific Uncertainty and the Canadian Regulatory Framework
• International Trade and Regulatory Harmony
• Smart Regulations
• Precaution and Science-Based Regulations
• Conclusion
• Chapter 11. Principles Driving U.S. Governance of Agbiotech (Kathleen A. Merrigan)
• Principle 1: No “Special Treatment”
• Principle 2: Invest in Research and Education
• Principle 3: Strong Property Rights
• Future Governance
• Conclusion
• Chapter 12. Biotechnology Policy in the European Union (Armin Spök)
• Introduction
• Europe versus the European Union
• The Limited Importance of EE R&D Policy
• Overall Regulatory Approach
• Risk Assessment and Decision Making
• Directive 90/220/EEC—The Shortcomings of a Harmonization Tool
• Diverging Framings in GEO Risk Assessments
• European Publics: Reluctance and Diverging Attitudes Toward Biotechnology
• The New Regulatory Regime
• Conclusions
• Chapter 13. Regulatory Regimes for GE Crops in Africa (Jennifer A. Thomson)
• South Africa
• Kenya
• Egypt
• Other Countries
• Chapter 14. GEO Research and Agribusiness in Brazil: Impact of the Regulatory Framework (Marília Regini Nutti, Maria José Amstalden Sampaio, and Edson Watanabe)
• Introduction
• The Brazilian Legal Framework for GM Crops
• Embrapa’s Biosafety Network
• The Soybean Saga
• The Labeling Decree No. 4680
• The Cartagena Protocol
• Current GEO Labeling Legislation in Brazil
• Food Safety Assessment of Genetically Modified Foods
• Environmental Impacts
• Final Considerations
• Chapter 15. Toward a Liability and Compensation Regime Under the Biosafety Protocol (Kristen Dawkins and Josh DuBois)
• Introduction
• Suggestions for the Development of Biosafety Liability Rules
• Damage that Should be Recoverable
• Remedies
• Conclusion
• PART III. CHALLENGES TO CIVIL SOCIETY
• Chapter 16. Public Spheres Pushing for Change: Public Participation in the Governance of GE Crops (Simon Joss)
• Introduction
• Genealogy of Public Debate
• Participation as Governance
• Institutional Arenas of Participatory Governance
• Extrainstitutional Arenas of Participatory Governance
• Conclusions
• Chapter 17. Risky Delusions: Misunderstanding science and Misperforming Publics in the GE Crops Issue (Brian Wynne)
• Introduction
• Objects of Confusion—and Provocation
• Risk Assessment and Excluded Dimensions of “Uncertainty”
• From “Unknown Unknowns” to Known Uncertainties: A Tacit Culture of Control
• Confusions of Meaning: Constructing the Public by “Listening” to It
• Constructed Risk: Performing “Publics” and Externalizing Responsibility
• Conclusions: A Learning Science?
• Index
• Reference Notes Included

Biography

Iain E. P. Taylor, PhD, holds BSc and doctorate degrees from the University of Liverpool. He joined the faculty of the University of British Columbia Botany Department in 1968. His research interests in plant cell walls have recently been paralleled by research on ethics in science, scholarly publishing, and professionalism. He retired and was appointed Professor Emeritus in December 2003. He was editor□in-chief of the Canadian Journal o f Botany from 1989 to 1999, and has served as assistant editor in chief of the NRC of Canada Research Journals since 1991. He is associated with the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics at UBC and is the research director at the university’s Botanical Garden.