ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 5877
Session = 12.18.2


ETHICAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE (DERAILED) GMO-CROP DEBATE IN UK AND EUROPE


John A. Bryant and Stephen G. Hughes, University of Exeter, Washington Singer Laboratory, Exeter EX4 4QG UK


The arrival in Europe of genetically modified (GM) soyabeans , and their initial introduction into the food marketing chain in a diversity of products has provoked a heated though often poorly informed media debate between interest groups (NGOs)and government institutions, and has led to calls for bans and moratoria. Requests for the approval of GM varieties for trialling, planting and marketing in European states has triggered further calls for bans and moratoria, by environmentally oriented NGOs.Since the spring of 1999 the debate has become particularly heated in the UK following claims, based on unpublished investigations, that lectins suggested for the development of insect resistant crops could have negative health consequences for experimental animals. In the ensuing media frenzy the food safety and environmental consequences of GMO crop introduction have been questioned, as have the motives of the plant breeding companies. European and national legislation, and regulatory institutions , evolved over 15 years to take account of these issues, have been challenged. Amid the headline-grabbing hyperbole (Frankenfoods) it is hardly surprising that consumers have been confused and caused to worry over who is concerned for their welfare. Many food suppliers have now sought the means to exclude GM-derived materials from their products.At the same time ,extensively researched reports into the institutional, the ethical and the social implications of the implementation of the new technology have been issued, notably by a House of Lords select committee and by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Using these findings as a platform we will discuss the ethical positions adopted by the various actors in the debate as well as the means by which the debate can be reconstructed to address the key question of how the technologies themselves and the institutions which govern them can be aligned with human welfare in the broadest sense.


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