Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
OrganizationalBarriers
The different provisions under the label organizational barrier in tradi-
tional high-risk industries do not seem to have been laid out yet in the
context of large-scale GM production. We have no information on the
way agronomic activities at set up on farm sites. Who are the “first-line
operators,” how are they organized? Who is in charge of monitoring sur-
prises, dissemination issues, commingling, storage errors, safe disposal,
destruction or recycling of biomass, and surveillance of interaction with
the environment? What is the nature of the division of labor and what
is its role in the safe production and delivery of the end products? What
kind of contingency planning is there in the event of adventitious pres-
ence of GM seeds in conventional seeds?
There is no doubt that these organizational factors will come under
public scrutiny in the case of a severe contamination incident, with poten-
tially negative health effects. Yet so far, as in early periods of “classic”
high-risk industries development, emphasis on these issues has not been
a priority.
HumanBarriers
In line with our comment on organizational factors, there is no informa-
tion on the characteristics of the operators handling GM production. No
information on the requirements that corporations or agricultural firms
have put in place for the recruitment and the specific safety and qual-
ity training of their employees. No doubt such issues could potentially
become important in the case of unwanted errors and mishaps.
As Menrad, Hirzinger, and Reitmeier (Chapter 6) and also Sp ok
(Chapter 7) observed in their respective chapters, so far the adoption of
coexistence measures on one hand and the adoption of good safety and
quality practices to avoid dissemination and contamination incidents on
the other, are not top priorities. Even so, both should have a great impact
