The International Politics of Genetically Modified Food: Diplomacy, Trade and Law
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s book presents a dozen original essays – all careful and well written – edited to consider a range of international influences on policies toward genetically engineered foods and crops. The sources of influence covered include the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, transnational corporations, international NGOs, food aid, policies in both Europe and the United States, the WTO, and international law. The editor is a respected lecturer in international relations at the London School of Economics and a seasoned scholar in the study of biotechnology. Most of the contributors are similarly trained in international relations, political science, or environmental studies, and are from the UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, or other parts of the developed world. This book is marked by a strong point of view. Most of the authors take it as given that genetically engineered foods and crops are somehow more risky to human health and/or the environment than conventional foods and crops. For readers who accept this assumption, the analysis and advocacy in the book falls perfectly into place. Of course the regulation of GMO foods and crops should be much tighter than for conventional foods or crops. Of course Europe’s precautionary approach to GMO foods and crops is to be welcomed and internationalised, even if this approach makes the technology nearly impossible to use, and of course the WTO should be criticised for © 2007 PALGRAVE MACMILLAN LTD 1462-8732 $30.00
not accepting the European approach. Of course the transnational corporations that develop and sell GMO seeds should be held at bay by new international agreements, and watched carefully by NGO advocacy networks. Other readers will question the underlying assumption. A consensus has now emerged among relevant scientific authorities in Europe as well as in the United States that the GMO foods and crops currently on the market are no more dangerous to human health or the environment than their conventional counterparts. This is the stated opinion now of the Directorate for Research of the European Union, the French Academy of Science, the Royal Society, the British Medical Association, the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. None of these scientific bodies has been able to find any evidence yet of new risks from the GMO foods and crops currently on the market, even though most were placed on the market by the more permissive regulators of the United States rather than the highly precautionary regulators of Europe. This forces us to question the wisdom of internationalising Europe’s highly precautionary approach. How much will be lost in the way of future agricultural
J O U RNA L O F C O M M E RC I A L B I OTE C H NO L O G Y. VOL 13. NO 4. 313–314 AUGUST 2007
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