Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Apart from creating an opportunity for testing and critically evalu-
ating a new technology before its readiness to face the market, a BSTE
allows for development of new social arrangements among actors, and to
consider them as templates for other societal contexts. It is also a way to
draw into the sustainability agenda actors who would otherwise not see a
place for themselves in the types of projects in technological and system
innovation that are often sponsored by powerful corporate, governmen-
tal, or NGO entities. A successful BSTE creates a socially embedded new
configuration of technology or service that can serve as a starting point
for further innovation and that, at a minimum, informs the policy-making
process.
The GMO case presents an opportunity to apply such sociotechnical
experimentation to increase learning, reduce controversies, and advance
the policy process. The GMO controversy includes many technical and
risk assessment problems to investigate, thus providing an anchor (the
'boundary') for the experiment, and a wide range of views and interpre-
tive frames. Many of the parties to the controversy, notwithstanding their
public positions, recognize both the inevitability of GMO technology and
its considerable potential to produce social good as well as harm. Devel-
oping wise public policy on the GMO subject necessitates a broad-based
discourse and mutual learning.
In our view, a BSTE should be organized by a relatively 'neutral'
party who would have to provide a vision that can unite the participants,
counter self-destructive internal pressures on the process, and frame its
goals in terms of learning. The concept of sustainability, largely absent
from the GMO discourse thus far, provides a powerful uniting theme for
creating such a vision.
Conclusions
This chapter lays out a new framework for managing the GMO con-
troversy. We have argued that GMOs constitute an example of a new
technology with largely unknown consequences and risks, as well as high
