Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
GMOs and those who do not choose to grow GMOs, and expect to be
protected from any dissemination incident in their fields. Secondly, con-
sumers: Those who do not bother, and those who bother actively, more
precisely anti- and pro-GMO activists; We find also independent labs,
scientific experts from different disciplines (biology, toxicology, environ-
mental sciences, agricultural economics ...) along with regulators - at
national, federal in the case of the U.S. or supranational level in the case
of the EU -, and last politicians, to only name the most important ones.
All these stakeholders bring different perspectives to the question of GM
farming safety.
Stewardship probably would require a minimal institutional central-
ization. This point will later be addressed in the context of potential
benefits for the GM industry from transposing existing safety managing
devices. One such benefit could be the implementation of events report-
ing systems, thus prompting collective action in support of some kind of
centralized monitoring system.
Unfolding the GMCrop Growing Safety Model: The Legacy
of Early Choices
In this section, we will turn to the implicit GM crop growing safety
model as grasped through the various contributions in this topic. This
exercise in itself entails notable difficulties. In fact, “safety” is a bit of a
misnomer here, as for most experts there are no safety issues in the clas-
sic sense, regarding GM products. Yet, some of the claims that GM crops
pose environmental risks and also threaten non-GM crops are increa-
singly supported by new scientific evidence (for example, gene flows are
occurring). This situation requires the adoption of constraints on the
sitting of GM crops and the implementation of and adherence to special
practices for their farming, storing, and distribution to minimize risks
and simultaneously minimize “contamination” costs for the GM and
non-GM industry.
Despite some resistance to tackling these issues under the “safety”
umbrella, two distinct problems could be of interest for a safety
