The price and trade effects of strict information requirements for genetically modified commodities: Under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

This paper assesses the global economic implications of the proposed strict documentation requirements on traded shipments of potentially genetically modified (GM) commodities under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. More specifically, we evaluate the trade diversion, price, and welfare effects of requiring all shipments to bear a list of specific GM events (the does contain rule) in the maize and soybean sectors. Using a spatial equilibrium model with 80 maize- and 53 soybean-trading countries, we show that information requirements would have a significant effect on the world market for maize and soybeans. But they would have even greater effects on trade, creating significant trade distortion that diverts exports from their original destination. The measure would also lead to significant negative welfare effects for all members of the Protocol and nonmembers that produce GM maize, soybeans, or both. While non-GM producers in Protocol member countries would benefit from this regulation, consumers and producers in many developing countries would have to pay a proportionally much heftier price for such a measure.Cartagena protocol on biosafety, Genetically modified food, International trade,

The Price and Trade Effects of Strict Information Requirements for Genetically Modified Commodities under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

The Price and Trade Effects of Strict Information Requirements for Genetically Modified Commodities under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

From “May Contain” to “Does Contain”: The price and trade effects of strict information requirements for GM maize under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/22/10.Genetically modified food, International Trade, Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety., Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q17, Q18, F18,

Implementing Rural-Urban Disaggregated Food Demand in a Partial Equilibrium Model

Global general and partial equilibrium models focused on the agricultural sector can help policy makers do ex-ante analysis by providing a variety of macro-level outcomes, such as changes in flows of international trade, and changes in the supply, demand, and prices of globally traded commodities. IFPRI’s IMPACT model (International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade) model is one such model. Since its inception nearly 20 years ago the model has evolved to inform increasingly complex and nuanced policy issues, such as the explicit modeling of water use and the productive response of agriculture to climate change. However, on the demand side it has remained a fairly blunt instrument. One oft mentioned shortcoming of global food policy models such as IMPACT model is that they treat national populations as a single composite consumer. As (relatively) wealthier urban and poorer rural populations exhibit different demand characteristics, have different base levels of food consumption, and have different levels of wealth, assigning a single representative consumer for an entire country could result in misleading results regarding both global prices and consumption and the food security of the poorer segments of the population. In this poster we present a global partial equilibrium food security model with disaggregated demand. Working from the IMPACT model, we divided national populations into their urban and rural components. Studies have shown that rural and urban consumers, as well as poor and rich consumers, have structurally different food demands. Accordingly, we assign different demand elasticities (price and income), different base consumption (at the commodity level), and different incomes to sub-populations populations within each country.  We have completed an extensive study of the food demand literature, using the findings to develop parameters to represent the structural differences in urban and rural food demand (see right for explanation of this process). We use rural/urban population and income data and projections from the UN to complete the disaggregation.Partial Equilibrium Models, Disaggregated Food Demand, IMPACT model, Food Security, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty,

Processing of the dynamin Msp1p in S. pombe reveals an evolutionary switch between its orthologs Mgm1p in S. cerevisiae and OPA1 in mammals

AbstractMitochondrial fusion depends on the evolutionary conserved dynamin, OPA1/Mgm1p/Msp1p, whose activity is controlled by proteolytic processing. Since processing diverges between Mgm1p (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and OPA1 (mammals), we explored this process in another model, Msp1p in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Generation of the short isoform of Msp1p neither results from the maturation of the long isoform nor correlates with mitochondrial ATP levels. Msp1p is processed by rhomboid and a protease of the matrix ATPase associated with various cellular activities (m-AAA) family. The former is involved in the generation of short Msp1p and the latter in the stability of long Msp1p. These results reveal that Msp1p processing may represent an evolutionary switch between Mgm1p and OPA1

Enriched interactions which support speech and language development: short- and medium-term effects (6 months) of parental guidance in logopedics

peer reviewedThe aim of parent based language intervention is to help parents of children with language disorders to play a main part in their child’s linguistic development by adjusting the speech addressed to them. This study focuses on the efficiency of our intervention methods and of indirect therapy. We analyze four dyads filmed at three different points in time: 1) before the intervention;2) directly after the sessions with the speech therapists; 3) six months later. Each film was transcribed and analyzed. The results confirm that parental based language intervention induces long-term changes in the parents’ behavior.La guidance logopédique parentale vise à aider des parents d’enfants en difficulté langagière à tenir un rôle d’acteur principal dans le développement langagier de leurs enfants, en leur fournissant un langage plus adapté à ses difficultés. Cette étude s’intéresse à l’efficacité de cette méthode d’intervention en analysant quatre dyades parent/enfant filmées à trois reprises : avant la prise en charge, directement après les sessions de formation et 6 mois plus tard. Chaque film a été transcrit et analysé. Les résultats confirment que la guidance parentale induit des changements de comportement des parents dont l’effet persiste à long terme

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead.

Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety 'Mode of Action' framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead

Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety ‘Mode of Action’ framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead

Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/ mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety ‘Mode of Action’ framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology