6,591 research outputs found
Investigating an Ethical Approach to Genetically Modified Crops in Environmental Educational Processes
Genetically modified (GM) crops gained attention in southern Africa in the context of broader debates about the struggle for food security and poverty alleviation to achieve sustainable development. The prospects of GM crops as a technological innovation have provoked numerous debates and environmental concern groups have challenged their use. Environmental educatorsâ concern for greater ethical practices regarding environmental issues can be applied to the subject of GM crops. This article focuses on the perceptions of environmental educators regarding the use of GM crops towards sustainable development. Interviews were conducted with a small group of environmental educators to gain some insight into their perceptions. The interviews reflected some contextual relevance of GM crops, understanding of the concepts âGM cropsâ and âsustainable developmentâ as well as four unique themes. These emphasise the plurality of the GM crops issue and the importance thereof in working towards an ethical approach in environmental educational processes
Science and Technology Governance and Ethics - A Global Perspective from Europe, India and China
This book analyzes the possibilities for effective global governance of science in Europe, India and China. Authors from the three regions join forces to explore how ethical concerns over new technologies can be incorporated into global science and technology policies. The first chapter introduces the topic, offering a global perspective on embedding ethics in science and technology policy. Chapter Two compares the institutionalization of ethical debates in science, technology and innovation policy in three important regions: Europe, India and China. The third chapter explores public perceptions of science and technology in these same three regions. Chapter Four discusses public engagement in the governance of science and technology, and Chapter Five reviews science and technology governance and European values. The sixth chapter describes and analyzes values demonstrated in the constitution of the Peopleâs Republic of China. Chapter Seven describes emerging evidence from India on the uses of science and technology for socio-economic development, and the quest for inclusive growth. In Chapter Eight, the authors propose a comparative framework for studying global ethics in science and technology. The following three chapters offer case studies and analysis of three emerging industries in India, China and Europe: new food technologies, nanotechnology and synthetic biology. Chapter 12 gathers all these threads for a comprehensive discussion on incorporating ethics into science and technology policy. The analysis is undertaken against the backdrop of different value systems and varying levels of public perception of risks and benefits. The book introduces a common analytical framework for the comparative discussion of ethics at the international level. The authors offer policy recommendations for effective collaboration among the three regions, to promote responsible governance in science and technology and a common analytical perspective in ethics
The interplay between societal concerns and the regulatory frame on GM crops in the European Union
Recapitulating how genetic modification technology and its agro-food
products aroused strong societal opposition in the European Union, this
paper demonstrates how this opposition contributed to shape the European
regulatory frame on GM crops. More specifically, it describes how this
opposition contributed to a de facto moratorium on the commercialization of new GM
crop events in the end of the nineties. From this period onwards, the
regulatory frame has been continuously revised in order to slow down further
erosion of public and market confidence. Various scientific and technical
reforms were made to meet societal concerns relating to the safety of GM
crops. In this context, the precautionary principle, environmental
post-market monitoring and traceability were adopted as ways to cope with
scientific uncertainties. Labeling, traceability, co-existence and public
information were installed in an attempt to meet the general public request
for more information about GM agro-food products, and the specific demand to
respect the consumers' and farmers' freedom of choice. Despite these
efforts, today, the explicit role of public participation and/or ethical
consultation during authorization procedures is at best minimal. Moreover,
no legal room was created to progress to an integral sustainability
evaluation during market procedures. It remains to be seen whether the
recent policy shift towards greater transparency about value judgments,
plural viewpoints and scientific uncertainties will be one step forward in
integrating ethical concerns more explicitly in risk analysis. As such, the
regulatory frame stands open for further interpretation, reflecting in
various degrees a continued interplay with societal concerns relating to GM
agro-food products. In this regard, both societal concerns and diversely
interpreted regulatory criteria can be inferred as signaling a request â
and even a quest â to render more explicit the broader-than-scientific
dimension of the actual risk analysis
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Socio-economic impact of GMOs on African consumers
The debate surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) remains an important one for consumers and consumer organisations the world over, and is characterized by strong views for, and against the technology. The debate is of particular interest to Africa, where the countries are yet to embrace the new technology and where food security challenges tend to amplify the dilemma faced by decision-makers. Consumers, represented through the work of consumer organizations, are a very active and vocal constituency in this debate, as it unfolds in Africa.The objective of this paper is to inform the reader on how the consumer movement has contributed to the GMO debate in Africa in the past few years and to highlight the potential socio-economic impacts on African consumers. Firstly, the paper summarises the consumer movement and its work with the Joint Advocacy Project on GMOs; and secondly looks at the potential social, ethical and cultural impacts. Economic and environmental impacts are also discussed. The Socio-Economic Impact Assessment tool is highlighted as one of several tools to guide bio-safety decision-making policy. A few recommendations and policy implications are given at the end of the paper
A framework for a European network for a systematic environmental impact assessment of genetically modified organisms (GMO)
The assessment of the impacts of growing genetically modified (GM) crops remains a major political and scientific challenge in Europe. Concerns have been raised by the evidence of adverse and unexpected environmental effects and differing opinions on the outcomes of environmental risk assessments (ERA).
The current regulatory system is hampered by insufficiently developed methods for GM crop safety testing and introduction studies. Improvement to the regulatory system needs to address the lack of well designed GM crop monitoring frameworks, professional and financial conflicts of interest within the ERA research and testing community, weaknesses in consideration of stakeholder interests and specific regional conditions, and the lack of comprehensive assessments that address the environmental and socio economic risk assessment interface. To address these challenges, we propose a European Network for systematic GMO impact assessment (ENSyGMO) with the aim directly to enhance ERA and post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) of GM crops, to harmonize and ultimately secure the long-term socio-political impact of the ERA process and the PMEM in the EU. These goals would be achieved with a multi-dimensional and multi-sector approach to GM crop impact assessment, targeting the variability and complexity of the EU agro-environment and the relationship with relevant socio-economic factors. Specifically, we propose to develop and apply methodologies for both indicator and field site selection for GM crop ERA and PMEM, embedded in an EU-wide typology of agro-environments. These methodologies should be
applied in a pan-European field testing network using GM crops. The design of the field experiments and the sampling methodology at these field sites should follow specific hypotheses on GM crop effects and use state-of-the art sampling, statistics and modelling approaches. To address public concerns and create confidence in the ENSyGMO results, actors with relevant specialist knowledge from various sectors should be involved
Germany: Continued 'elite precaution' alongside continued public opposition
Germany is the EU member state with the most difficult marketing situation (besides Austria) as regards genetically modified (gm) crops and food. At the same time, it shows the least administrative effort to respond to the reasons for this situation - public suspicion and protest. Regulators advocate specific precaution-related measures, which, however, do not relate to the primary demands of critics and opponents. The administration's claim to prioritize scientific evidence over politics constructs the administration and the public as two separated worlds without real mediation. This contrasts with the ever growing demands for public participation. Participation in a broader sense, however, is not dependent on formal opportunities. In this conflict, NGOs bring up issues of democracy, transparency and precaution by means of public mobilization. An anticipated consumer boycott and, following from this, a commercial blockage of gm products are the effects of this strategy. These dynamics can be analysed as political tensions brought about by a politico-administrative system which sticks to a legalistic-scientistic approach when dealing with 'modernization risks'. At the level of formal politics, reflexive modernization occurs without 'reflexive politics', that is, without measures to overcome prognostic uncertainty by trust and participation
Investing in food security? Philanthrocapitalism, biotechnology and development
This paper traces the evolution of philanthropic involvement in developing country agriculture from the âscientific philanthropyâ of the Rockefeller Foundation during and
after the Green Revolution era to the âphilathrocapitalismâ of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, by examining two cases of âpro-poorâ agricultural biotechnology research:
pro-Vitamin A-enriched âGolden Riceâ and drought tolerant maize. In each case, novel institutions developed for technology transfer have created conditions conducive to
future capitalist accumulation in ways that are not immediately obvious. These initiatives can be understood as institutional experiments that are shifting debates about
the governance and regulation of genetically modified (âGMâ) crops. Meanwhile an emphasis on silver bullet solutions and institutions that âconnect to the marketâ diverts attention from more context-responsive approaches. This trend is likely to intensify with the announcement at the recent G8 summit backing a âNew Alliance for Food Security and Nutritionâ in which agri-business corporations are to play a key role
Genetically modified crops for biodiversity conservation? : reflections from the GM debate in Costa Rica
biodiversity; national parks; protected areas; food production; crops; Costa Rica;
Acceptance of biotechnology and social-cultural implications in Ghana
Despite major scientific progress in the application of biotechnology in agriculture, public attitudes towards biotechnology in general and genetically modified food (GM food) products in particular remain mixed in Africa. Examining responses on acceptance of GM food through a stakeholder survey in Ghana, it was established that half of the 100 people sample interviewed were not in favor of GM foods. To this group acceptance of GM foods would make farmers loose focus on the traditional ways of cultivation, putting the whole nation at the mercy of profit driven foreign companies who produce GM foods. In order to have clear and unbiased attitudes towards agricultural biotechnology in Africa, there is the need to substitute dominant ideologies in the way biotechnology research and dissemination are conducted in developed countries with tailor-made methodologies in developing countries. This paper emphasizes the social dynamic force of food focusing on the need for social shaping of biotechnologies to reflect local and regional needs. Respondentsâ perceptions of GM foods suggest that food is seen as not just a commodity to be consumed but food has both cultural and national identities. Generally, people are identified by their consumption and nutrition lifestyles and therefore take pride in what they eat. A proposal is made to set biotechnology research agenda in the context of social choices; social scientific coalition of biotechnology with endogenous development pathwaysâ as opposed to âexogenous biotechnology researchâ. Also there is the need for adequate capacity building of the existing regulatory institutions to handle ethical and moral issues associated with biotechnology research since survey findings showed lacked of public confidence in them.Biotechnology; survey; acceptability; social shaping; Ghana
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