Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
scientists, experts, regulators, and policy management of risk and uncer-
tainty. Unfortunately, the study lacked data on the positions of focus
groups on specific aspects of risk and uncertainty in the GMO debate.
Those results are consistent with the results of other focus groups,
which uncovered public resentment of decision-making procedures and
unease about the prevalent direction of the agro-food system. Rese-
archers also mention the perception of an institutional failure to address
public concerns, mistrust in these institutions, and specific concerns
about the balance of power between producers and consumers, and
between the industrialized and developing worlds.
28
Notably, the pub-
lic appears to favor the idea of “societal usefulness” as the criterion for
judging the acceptability of GMO technologies over the economic effi-
ciency criterion. The increased demands for public participation and the
rise of the “consumer citizen” movement in Europe since the mid-1990s
(through purchasing decisions and consumer boycotts), and the atten-
dant need for labeling foodstuffs and traceability of food components
feed into the GMO debate.
Public Policies
Regulation of GMOs in agriculture and food in Europe has been dif-
ficult, owing to the legislative and regulatory complexity of the EU, the
technical complexity of the issue, its economic and industrial importance,
and the inherent uncertainties.
29
The initial wave of regulation during the
1980s engendered so much criticism from the member-states and various
stakeholder groups that it resulted in a 1998 a
de facto
moratorium on
all GMOs, first adopted by France and Greece, then Italy, Denmark,
28
See L. Levidov & C. Morris, Science and Governance in Europe: lessons from the
case of agricultural biotechnology,
Science and Public Policy
345-360 (2001). See also
Frewer et al., supra, and D. Barling et al., The Social Aspects of Food Biotechnology:
A European View, 7
Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology
85-93 (1999).
29
S. Borras, Legitimate Governance of Risk at the EU level? The Case of Genetically
Modified Organisms, 73
Technological Forecasting and Social Change
61-75 (2006).
