Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
4
The Dutch Approach to Safety
Governance of GMAgriculture
Hubert P. J. M. Noteborn andFreija H. van Duijne
Introduction
The European approach to regulating genetically modified (GM) crops
and foods has had unsettling consequences. It demonstrates that indus-
trialists, politicians, scientific experts, and national regulatory authorities
have failed to adequately address public concerns. These concerns arise
from public awareness of the uncertainties and risks, and from lack of
confidence in the studies performed by scientists and regulators.
1
The
concerns also reflect differences in perceptions and values, which have
been shaped by recent history involving BSE, dioxin pollution, and food
irradiation.
2
The expert committees that drafted European regulations on GM
agriculture focused exclusively on potential safety concerns and designed
the regulatory system accordingly.
3
The experts targeted scientific issues
such as the development of resistant “superbugs” and “superweeds,” as
1
G. E. Seraline et al., New Analysis of a Rat Feeding Study with a Genetically Modified
Maize Reveals Signs of Hepatorenal Toxicity,
Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol
(2007),
http://www.springerlink.com/content/02648wu132m07804/fulltext.html.
2
T. Ten Eyck, Shaping a Food Safety Debate. Control Efforts of Newspaper Reporters
and Sources in the Food Irradiation Controversy, 20
Science Communication
426-447
(1999).
3
D. Burke. The Recent Excitement over Genetically Modified Foods, in Mill Hill
Essays (1997), http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/millhillessays/1997/food.htm (last visited
June 19, 2008).
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