Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Potential liability for GM contamination of conventional crops, the
costs of new management practices to prevent gene flow and harm to
nontarget species of pests, surging demand for acreage to grow organic
foods and biofuel crops, increased use of toxic herbicides, and continuing
European resistance to GM crops and foods amplified by costly verifica-
tion and labeling requirements are among the factors that have caused
some American agricultural enterprises to return a portion of their GM
acreage to growing non-GM crops. These factors can make GM crops
and derivative food products more costly. To the extent these develop-
ments and their economic consequences enter the consumer calculus, the
advance of GM agriculture may be slowed. Thus, despite the bullish data
on GM acreage, other forces are at work that may make the cultural con-
text and market for GM crops and foods less favorable.
Governance
Governance of new technological developments in the United States,
such as GM crops and foods, and the risks they pose is usually accom-
plished by three independent but interactive systems of social control:
government regulation, common law, and private self-regulation. For
more than a century, a series of public laws have been enacted to
empower federal and state regulators to prevent agricultural activities
and foods from harming public health, natural resources, and property
such as privately owned land, crops, and livestock. For more than two
centuries, tort liability and other common law doctrines derived from
England have been adjusted and applied by state courts to hold com-
panies accountable for harms caused by their activities and products,
including diverse agricultural practices and foods. And voluntary self-
regulation by companies and industry standards developed by their trade
associations have usually been encouraged by government as a com-
monsense alternative or supplement to government regulation of risks
in most business sectors, including agriculture and the processed food
industry.
