GM food on trial
Subtitle: testing European democracy
By: by Les Levidow and Susan Carr.
Contributors: Carr, Susan, 1943-
Series: Genetics and society
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 310
ISBN-13: 9780415955416
Subjects: Genetically modified foods -- Government policy -- Europe; Genetically modified foods -- Law and legislation -- Europe; Agricultural biotechnology -- Government policy -- Europe; Agricultural industries -- Government policy -- Europe
Description: Europe was told that it had no choice but to accept agbiotech, yet this imperative was turned into a test of democratic accountability for societal choices.

Since the late 1990s, European public controversy has kept the agri-biotech industry and its promoters on the defensive.

As some opponents and regulators alike have declared, ‘GM food/crops are on trial’.

Suspicion of their guilt has been evoked by moral symbols, as disputes over whether genetically-modified products are modest benign improvements on traditional plant breeding, or dangerous Frankenfoods; and in disputes over whether they are global saviours, or control agents of multinational companies.

This book examines European institutions being ‘put on trial’ for how their regulatory procedures evaluate and regulate GM products, in ways which opened up alternative futures.

Levidow and Carr highlight how public controversy created a legitimacy crisis, leading to national policy changes and demands, in turn stimulating changes in EU agbiotech regulations as a strategy to regain legitimacy.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Analytical perspectives; title: Making Europe safe for agbiotech, generating dissent; title: Opening up risks, disputing un/sustainable agriculture; title: Channelling participation, testing public representations; title: Regulating risk, testing EU reforms; title: Scaling up GM crops, testing commercial operators; title: Labelling GM products, testing free choice; title: Segregating GM crops, contesting future agricultures; title: Conclusion: testing European democracy.