Regional biotechnology regulations: Design options and implications for good governance

"Many developing countries are currently in the process of designing regulatory systems that should allow them to use genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for agricultural development, while also managing the food safety and environmental risks potentially associated with these technologies. Various regions of the developing world are seeking to establish regional systems of biotechnology regulation. However, considerable costs are associated with biotechnology regulation, and biosafety specialists are scarce. In addition, there is no consistent understanding of how regional systems of biotechnology regulation can be designed to be effective and efficient, while also fulfilling the principles of good governance, such as transparency, voice and accountability, control of corruption, and avoidance of special interest capture. There are a wide variety of possible regional approaches, differing with regard to the level of centralization, the scope of the regional system, the types of regional institutions and processes, and the types of financing mechanisms. Here, based on findings in the fields of environmental and fiscal federalism and transaction costs economics, we develop a conceptual framework for the assessment of regional systems of biotechnology regulation. The framework specifies design options and assessment criteria, and identifies major trade-offs and their mediating factors. We use the case of West Africa to illustrate this framework, and refer to the European Union for comparison. Our analysis indicates that involving regional experts, stakeholders and policy-makers in the design of a regional regulatory system will help fill knowledge gaps and generate conclusions regarding the trade-offs involved in regional biotechnology regulation." from Author's AbstractRegional biotechnology regulation, Regulatory systems, Transaction cost economics, European Union, Governance,

Designing Regional Systems of Biotechnology Regulation A Transaction Cost Approach to Regulatory Governance

Many developing countries are currently in the process of designing regulatory systems that should make it possible to use the potential of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for agricultural development, while at the same time managing the risks for food safety and the environment that are potentially associated with these technologies. In view of the considerable costs associated with biotechnology regulation and the scarcity of biosafety specialists, there are processes in various regions of the developing world to establish regional systems of biotechnology regulation. So far, there are major knowledge gaps as to how regional systems of biotechnology regulation can be designed to be effective and efficient and to fulfill principles of good governance, such as transparency, voice and accountability, control of corruption, and avoidance of special interest capture. There is a wide variety of possible regional approaches, which differ with regard to the level of centralization, the scope of a regional system, the types of regional institutions and processes, and the types of financing mechanisms. Based on the literature on environmental and fiscal federalism and transaction costs economics, the paper develops a conceptual framework for the assessment of regional systems of biotechnology regulation. The framework specifies design options and assessment criteria, and identifies major trade-offs as well as the factors affecting these trade-offs. The paper takes West Africa as an example to illustrate this framework and refers to the European Union for comparison. The paper concludes that involving regional experts, stakeholders and policy-makers into debates on the design of a regional regulatory system is an important strategy to fill knowledge gaps and arrive at conclusions regarding the trade-offs involved in regional biotechnology regulation. Key words: regional biotechnology regulation; regulatory federalism; transaction cost economics; West Africa; European Unionregional biotechnology regulation, regulatory federalism, transaction cost economics, European Union, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Spin correlations in top physics at ATLAS and CMS in Run 2

Measurements of $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ spin correlations are presented in events with top quarks produced in $\mathrm{pp}$ collisions at the LHC. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of $36\:\mathrm{fb^{-1}}$ at $\sqrt{s}=13\:\mathrm{TeV}$ collected at both the ATLAS and CMS detectors. The spin correlations are measured using the angular distributions of the leptons in dilepton channel $\mathrm{t\bar{t}}$ events. The spin correlations are probed both directly, using distributions measured in the top quark rest frames that depend only on the top quark spin, and indirectly, using distributions measured in the laboratory frame. The distributions are unfolded to the parton level and extrapolated to the full phase space. Some of the laboratory frame distributions are additionally unfolded to the particle level in the fiducial phase space of the ATLAS detector. The spin correlation measurements are used to search for new physics in the form of a light top squark or an anomalous top quark chromo-magnetic dipole moment, and stringent constraints are placed in both cases.Comment: Contribution to the 2019 EW session of the 54th Rencontres de Morion

Ecological risks of novel environmental crop technologies using phytoremediation as an example:

"Phytoremediation is the use of living plants, known as hyperaccumulators which absorb unusually large amounts of metals in comparison to other plants. The use of classical plant breeding and new molecular techniques offers great potential to develop crops with the ability to clean up polluted sites. While these technologies have gained widespread attention, prior to commercial development, there are risks that must be considered – only a few of which have received even modest examination. Therefore, the focus of this working paper is to explore specific risks associated with phytoremediation and suggest ways in which these risks can be managed so that new, novel, and innovative plant technologies may be applied to provide low cost and efficient environmental solutions. " Authors' AbstractPhytoextraction, Phytomining,

A gap analysis of confined field trial application forms for genetically modified crops in East Africa: evaluating the potential for harmonization

"The regulatory approval of genetically modified crops in the field initially requires small, restricted experimental trials known as confined field trials. These small scale experiments provide researchers with important information on environmental interactions and agronomic performance of the crop in a safe and contained manner. To authorize confined field trials regulatory review is required, with formats for obtaining relevant information differing from country to country. In this paper, a Gap Analysis is used to identify informational gaps and potential for harmonization of confined field trial application processes in three East African countries - Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. The basic principle behind gap analysis is a comparison of the status quo to an ideal with the identification of the differences or gaps and the difficulty involved in removing the gaps. The resulting similarity of the application forms provides a potential basis for harmonization of confined field trial application processes between countries leading to potential efficiency gains." Authors' abstractGenetically modified crops, Gap analysis, Confined field trials, biotechnology,

The emergence of insect resistance in Bt-corn: implication of resistance management information under uncertainty

"The successful management of transgenic technology is likely to depend on the economic behavioral response of farmers to the regulated use of transgenic crops. A well-studied example is the widespread use of Bt-corn, in the United States, and elsewhere, to control the European Corn Borer, a major corn pest. The extensive use of Bt-corn has led to concerns about the emergence of insect resistance. The United States Environment Protection Agency addressed this potential problem by developing an insect resistance management strategy, based, in part, on complex mathematical models using detailed biological assumptions about the population genetics and life history of the European Corn Borer. However, seed companies and others have sometimes used simpler deterministic profit models to justify the economics of Bt-corn to potential growers. Therefore an over reliance, by regulatory agencies, on complex modeling approaches may obscure the likely economic behavioral response of farmers who rely on these less complex models. However, the determinants of adoption are numerous, profit being one of them. We develop a simple model for the spread of resistance based on the logistic growth equation and use it to investigate the effect of uncertainty on farmer decisions to plant Bt-corn and follow EPA management rules. The model results suggest that planting Bt-corn is an optimal strategy under the type of uncertainty assumed in the model and that short-term economic behavior is likely to lead to the Environment Protection Agency management rules not being followed. Our results add weight to existing work on this problem." Authors' AbstractBt-corn, logistic growth, Monte Carlo methods, Corn, Environmental protection, Economics Methodology,

Risk assessment and management of genetically modified organisms under Australia's Gene Technology Act:

"Compared to both Canada and the United States, Australia has been slow to approve commercial planting of transgenic crops. Two probable reasons exist for the slow approval rate of transgenic crops in Australia. The first reason is community perceptions about the risks associated with transgenic technologies. The second is the regulatory framework currently employed to approve commercial releases. This paper examines some of the potential regulatory issues that may be affecting the review process and approval of transgenic technologies. First we provide a brief introduction to the regulatory structure in Australia, second we consider the impact of regional, national and state jurisdictions, third we argue that the regulator needs to consider the use of benefits analysis in decision making, fourth we argue for the use of probabilistic risk assessments in certain circumstances, and fifth we look at potential problems inherent in majority voting in a committee and recommend alternatives." Authors' AbstractRisk assessment,

When EU Law meets Arab Law: Assessment of Anti-Corruption Law in Morocco and Some Proposed Amendments

This article reviews the present state of the adoption of anti-corruption legal provisions usually adopted in EU (or candidate) countries in Morocco. Morocco lags behind many countries in its adoption of anti-corruption legislation and the recently established Central Agency of the Prevention of Corruption is unlikely to succeed in speeding up the adoption of these measures. English language translations of a number of Moroccan anti-corruption legal instruments are presented and amendments to these legal instruments are recommended (based on international best practice) in order to increase the likely effectiveness of Moroccan law enforcement institutions in fighting corruption.

Incorporating collateral information using an adaptive management framework for the regulation of transgenic crops:

"A lack of data often makes biological management decisions difficult and has been an area of contention in the debate over the approval of transgenic crops. Our knowledge of agricultural and natural systems is limited and our ability to gain additional information, quickly and effectively, is often handicapped by statistical complexity. To adequately cope with this requires new approaches and models that integrate decision-making and management. This paper describes one possible approach to the integration of decision-making and management, which may have application for the regulatory approval of transgenic crops. In many situations countries wishing to approve transgenic crops will have limited data on the environmental performance of the crop. The approach outlined in this paper looks at how related information, possibly collected from other countries, might be used to help inform decisions about the approval of transgenic crops. This is done within an integrated decision-making and management framework." Authors' AbstractTransgenic plants, Collateral data, Bayesian theory, Inference,