A Window of Opportunity for GMO Regulation: Achieving Food Integrity Through Cap-and-Trade Models from Climate Policy for GMO Regulation

GMOs are the links of our centralized food system, largely dependent on international trade. GMOs are inherently unsustainable because they reduce biodiversity, harm the environment, and empower positive feedback loops between monocultures, industrial agriculture, and biodiversity depletion, thereby jeopardizing food safety, security, and sovereignty. Conglomerates of multi-national companies, in short BigAg, shape multi-lateral food trade and flood international markets with their small array and enormous volumes of crops, while controlling large aspects of agriculture and food production world-wide. Zooming in on the trans-Atlantic dispute about GE crops, this paper uses comparative law to explore how a cap-and-trade model borrowed from climate change policy might help to decentralize the current food system, thereby potentially restoring locally-oriented agriculture and food integrity. GMOs are under-regulated in the US and international trade frameworks enable the centralization of trans-Atlantic food systems, dominated by the US. This is possible because of the free trade/biotechnology policy in the US and the agricultural exceptionalism, which are, in theory, obstacles to food integrity. By comparison, the precautionary and protectionist approaches in the EU facilitate some food integrity, albeit not enough as a result of US trade pressures. The pressures could be partially lifted if there were a cap on those crops that enable the centralization of the system, namely GE crops patented and produced by US-American BigAg conglomerates. Essentially, when GE corn, soy, wheat, rice were capped in permissible trade volumes, other non-GE crops may enter the market, thereby diversifying and decentralizing food systems, encouraging local agriculture, and opening pathways where more sustainable practices could be instituted. In an effort to contextualize the herein proposed cap-and-trade upstream model regulation of GMOs borrowed from climate change policy, this paper explains the distinctions between GE and conventionally bred crops, between agriculture and food law, between the US free trade and the EU protectionism approaches (including the bedrocks of each legal framework) to trading GE crops, as well as the inherent dangers of the widespread use of GMOs in the trans-Atlantic food system. A likely conclusion of this paper will be that a cap-and-trade model, as proposed, may take decades to be passed into law, if ever, but it also highlights that the links between preserving food integrity, mitigating climate change, and maintaining open food trade are ripe for progressive and pro-active review

The Law and Economics of Cybersecurity: An Introduction

One of the most controversial theoretical issues of our time is the governance of cybersecurity. Computer security experts, national security experts, and policy analysts have all struggled to bring meaningful analysis to cybersecurity; however, the discipline of law & economics has yet to be fully applied to the issue. This introduction presents work by leading national scholars who examine this complex national security challenge from a law and economics perspective. The focus spans from a discussion of pure market solutions to public-private issue analysis, providing a valuable basis for policy considerations concerning the appropriate governmental role on the issue of cybersecurity

The Growing Threat of Agroterrorism and Strategies for Agricultural Defense

Due to the dynamic nature of human conflict, non-traditional terror tactics have evolved to undermine the socioeconomic stability of targeted societies. Considering the landscape in which terrorists operate, emphasis on more subversive methods of biological terror have become prominent in recent decades. Agroterrorism, or the use of plant pathogens to infect a nation’s cultivated crops, is an emerging topic due to its threat to global food security and economic stability. Although emergency preparedness objectives have been enacted at national, state, and even local levels, preemptive measures can no longer remain the sole responsibility of intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The agricultural and scientific communities are responsible for collaboration to improve security and pioneer new methods of disease resistance in susceptible crops. Plant immunology is an expanding field which explores the molecular defense mechanisms innately present within the plant kingdom and provides insight concerning novel methods of boosting the immunity of susceptible crops to existing and emerging pathogenic agents. This thesis serves to define the threat of agroterrorism from a national security and scientific perspective, identify notable plant pathogens, provide a brief survey of plant immunology, and discuss topics which can aid scientists, policymakers, and growers in efforts to secure the global food supply from those who would cause harm

ASEAN-4: Agricultural Diversification in the 1990s

Agricultural diversification is a prominent theme in ASEAN-4 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand) today. Since formulation of Indonesia\u27s First 5-Year Development Plan in 1969, the four primary concepts guiding the country\u27s development have been intensification, extensification, rehabilitation, and diversification. In the Fifth Plan (1989-94), diversification was shifted up to top priority (Kasryno, et al., 1992, 1; Saroso, 1991, 184). Malaysia\u27s policies for export diversification have resulted in the value added from tin and rubber relative to the total value of primary exports decreasing from 63% in 1970 to 15% in 1990 (Yaacob, 1992, 4). Within agriculture, Malaysia has adopted policies to rely on its eight major large-scale irrigation schemes ( granary areas ) for the vast majority of its rice production and to convert non-granary irrigated areas from rice to diversified crops. The country\u27s paddy sector is being diversified through value-added production alternatives and vertical movement into processing and other forms of agroindustry (Mat and Chen, 1992, 167-169; Zulkifly, 1985, 105- 110). In the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture has adopted crop diversification as a strategy to increase agricultural production and farm income (Nilo, 1993, 19). The focus on diversification in the Philippines extends beyond crops to sustainable agroindustrial development in which possibilities for joint agricultural and industrial development are being actively pursued (Adriano, 1993, 14).Since the mid-1980s, the Thai government has given a strong mandate to its Department of Agricultural Extension to promote agricultural diversification (Siamwalla, et al., 1992a, 211). Thailand\u27s Sixth National Economic and Social Plan (1987-91) gives priority to agricultural diversification through farmers being encouraged to generate income from a greater variety of products and activities (Phattakun, 1991, 410; Siamwalla, et al., 1992b, 4). In this article, brief attention is given to defining diversification and conveying a flavor of recent trends in agricultural diversification in ASEAN-4. The main focus of the article is on the rationale for and constraints to achieving diversification. In the concluding section, I indicate my judgment on future prospects for diversification in ASEAN-4

Questions related to Bitcoin and other Informational Money

A collection of questions about Bitcoin and its hypothetical relatives Bitguilder and Bitpenny is formulated. These questions concern technical issues about protocols, security issues, issues about the formalizations of informational monies in various contexts, and issues about forms of use and misuse. Some questions are formulated in the more general setting of informational monies and near-monies. We also formulate questions about legal, psychological, and ethical aspects of informational money. Finally we formulate a number of questions concerning the economical merits of and outlooks for Bitcoin.Comment: 31 pages. In v2 the section on patterns for use and misuse has been improved and expanded with so-called contaminations. Other small improvements were made and 13 additional references have been include

Determining the context and scale at which functional traits increase Nicotiana attenuata yields

At least 10,000 years ago, humans began domesticating crop plants into consistent, high-yielding food sources. Plants continue to provide 90% of human food energy intake worldwide. However, as human populations increase and arable land becomes scarce or unproductive due to climate instability, plant food sources may no longer be able to sustain human nutritional requirements. Plant populations must become more productive. This dissertation uses an ecological model plant, Nicotiana attenuata, to evaluate the contexts and scales at which plant populations can increase their productivity. I explore the current uses and future potentials of three functional traits that can be selected for, or genetically modified, in crop cultivars to improve agricultural yields. First, I test the efficacy of current agricultural pest-resistance technology in increasing yield. The pest-resistance technology (Cry1Ac expression), conferred through genetic modification to N. attenuata, did not increase yield in comparison to endogenously defended, or even undefended N. attenuata lines. Due to the scarcity of Cry1Ac-targeted insects in this field season, plants with more flexible use of their direct defenses were able to be more productive, demonstrating the benefit of naturally evolved defenses in the face of yearly-inconsistent pests. Resource-use traits such as plant water-use or association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AM) networks that facilitate nutrient access are as important to agricultural productivity as pest-resistance. Current screenings for water-use traits among agricultural varieties are insufficient: they do not account for varying rates of soil water consumption or plant development in applying drought treatments, and therefore, do not lead to reproducible results in the field. We use variance decomposition to quantify the extent to which these factors, when left uncontrolled, can significantly change observed results. I then apply the ecologically established biodiversity-productivity phenomenon to attempt to increase population yields by varying the percentage of plants with a low water-use efficiency trait among control plants in N. attenuata field populations. Low percentages of this trait caused overyielding. Using both novel and developed methodologies, I advance the understanding of the mechanisms behind this effect by identifying one of its genetic bases, and narrowing the spatial scale and plant tissue at which it occurs. Finally, we develop a method for screening agricultural cultivars for association with AM fungal networks by using a high-throughput leaf molecular marker rather than traditional microscopy methods, which are laborious and destructive. This work emphasizes the benefits of methodological development, which can both improve screenings for agriculturally-relevant functional traits and allow for application of ecologically-informed alternatives to increase population yield (e.g. intraspecific diversity).Bereits vor mindestens 10 000 Jahren begannen Menschen Pflanzen zu domestizieren und gewannen damit einheitliche und ertragreiche Nahrungsquellen. Auch heute nehmen Menschen 90% ihrer Nahrungsenergie über Pflanzen auf. Allerdings könnten in Zukunft Pflanzen nicht ausreichen, um die menschlichen Nahrungsbedürfnisse zu decken. Die Weltbevölkerung wächst und Klimainstabilität führt zu schrumpfenden Agrarflächen oder sinkenden Erträgen. Pflanzen müssen dementsprechend ertragreicher werden. In dieser Dissertation wird die Modellpflanze Nicotiana attenuata verwendet, um die Zusammenhänge und Ausmaße zu erforschen, in denen Pflanzenpopulationen ihre Leistungsfähigkeit steigern können. Ich untersuche die derzeitige Anwendung sowie zukünftige Potentiale von drei funktionellen Eigenschaften, die in der Züchtung selektiert oder in Pflanzen genetisch modifiziert werden können, um landwirtschaftliche Erträge zu steigern. Zuerst analysiere ich, wie effizient derzeitige landwirtschaftliche Schädlingsresistenztechnologien die Ausbeute erhöhen. Die Expression des Cry1Ac als Verteidigungssystem, eingebracht in N. attenuata durch genetische Modifikation, führte zu keiner Ertragssteigerung im Vergleich zu Pflanzen mit endogener Verteidigung oder sogar unverteidigten N. attenuata-Linien. Da in der Saison des Feldversuchs nur wenige Insekten vorkamen, gegen die das Cry1Ac-System gerichtet ist, reagierten Pflanzen mit endogener Verteidigung plastischer und damit produktiver auf ganzjährlich variierende Herbivorgemeinschaften. Genauso wichtig wie Schädlingsresistenz sind die Ressourcennutzung sowie die Assoziation mit arbuskulären Mykorrhizapilzen (AM-Pilzen), die den Zugang zu Nährstoffen unterstützen. Derzeitige Untersuchungen zu Wassernutzungseigenschaften verschiedener Agrarsorten sind unzureichend: In Versuchen mit Dürrebehandlung werden Unterschiede im Bodenwasserverbrauch oder die Entwicklung der Pflanzen nicht berücksichtigt und führen dementsprechend nicht zu reproduzierbaren Ergebnissen im Feld. Durch Varianzzerlegung quantifizieren wir, in welchem Ausmaß die einzelnen Faktoren, sollten sie unkontrolliert bleiben, die Ergebnisse signifikant verändern können. Mithilfe des ökologisch etablierten Biodiversitäts-Produktivitäts-Phänomens habe ich versucht die Populationserträge zu erhöhen, indem ich die Anteile von Pflanzen mit geringer Wasserverbrauchseffizienz und Kontrollpflanzen variiert habe. Waren solche Pflanzen zu einem geringen Prozentsatz in N. attenuata Feldpopulationen vorhanden, führte dies zu einer Ertragssteigerung. Mittels sowohl neuer als auch etablierter Methoden ist es mir gelungen zum Verständnis der Mechanismen hinter diesem Effekt beizutragen, indem ich eine der zugrundeliegenden genetischen Ursachen identifiziert habe und das räumliche Ausmaß sowie das Pflanzengewebe, in dem dieser Effekt auftritt, eingegrenzt habe. Abschließend entwickelten wir eine Methode, um Kultivare in Agrarpopulationen auf Assoziation mit AM-Pilzen zu untersuchen, bei der im high-throughput-Verfahren ein molekularer Marker im Blatt statt der traditionellen, aufwendigen und schädlichen Mikroskopiemethode verwendet wurde. Diese Arbeit betont die Vorteile von Methodenentwicklung, welche sowohl die Suche nach landwirtschaftlich relevanten Eigenschaften verbessern kann als auch die Anwendung von ökologisch begründeten Alternativen zur Ertragssteigerung ermöglicht (z.B. intraspezifische Diversität)