Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Conclusion
Genetic plant breeding is not a homogeneous technology, and each
application must therefore be considered on a case-by-case basis. One
of the key challenges facing food safety governance is to improve the
implicit and explicit dialogue on GM crop plants and its derived foods
with the public. It is proposed that scientific objectives (technical values)
and consumer objectives (social and economic or ethical concerns) are
best dealt with in parallel, not consecutively. It is incumbent on special-
ists, industrialists, and regulators to continue to integrate the public in
emerging technologies and their respective risk/benefit assessment and
ranking of decision options. The participatory process requires a solid
knowledge of group interactions and incentives, technical, social, and
cultural competence and, memorable practical experience (i.e., anec-
dotal and systematic evidence). To summarize, food safety governance
should cover principles such as:
Implicit dialogue, for instance, picking up signals of concern from the
public debate or a consumer complaint line, for responding to early
warning indicators;
Screening of warnings for identifying an appropriate deliberative and
participatory strategy;
Planning process identifying risks, costs, benefits, and their distribu-
tion;
Science-based facts and cognitive judgments of experts acquainted
with risk/benefit assessments of health and environment;
Apprehension analysis of social, economic, and ethical values from
(organized) stakeholders and other experts (not necessarily from
academia);
Balancing and assignment of trade-offs by an explicit dialogue with
affected target groups or the public at large (acceptability of distribu-
tion of risk, benefits, and costs);
