AgBioForum, vol. 01, no. 1 (1998)
Permanent URI for this collection
This issue's title is: "Public Acceptance of Agrobiotechnology." Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the contents of this issue.
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Agricultural Biotechnology and Public Perceptions(AgBioForum, 1998) Caulder, JerryMuch of the debate concerning the acceptability of agricultural biotechnology can be traced to the fact that food is viewed as an entitlement in most of the developed world. In the United States (U.S.), Europe, and other parts of the world, food is abundant. This abundant food supply is increasingly taken for granted, and treated cavalierly by consumers and government. On any given day, the U.S. has less than forty-five days of food supplies, and these supplies are viewed as a "surplus". In contrast, two hundred years of oil supplies are viewed as a "strategic reserve". All of us involved in agriculture must assume some responsibility for allowing such attitudes to persist. We have failed to raise public awareness about the economic significance of an adequate, safe, and affordable food supply. This failure to raise public awareness can be traced to two main problems. First, the economic benefit of improving nutrition, and food safety is very difficult to measure. How does one place a value on the improved nutritional content of food, or on food that is safer to eat? Second, there is the problem of how food safety issues are reported. A few people dying from food poisoning is newsworthy, while preventing millions from ever running such a risk is not.Item What's in a Label?(AgBioForum, 1998) Marshall, Karen K.We believe that any labeling statements must be capable of verification and enforcement. Appropriately validated detection methods will be critical when labeling is required. While there may well be a place for products identified as not containing ingredients derived from modern biotechnology, such labeling must be verified through analytical techniques and must be truthful and not misleading. Will a 'does contain' label on a food product in Europe do no more than satisfy a consumer's right to information or will it cause consumers to avoid the labeled product? Will it be seen as what it is -information - or perceived as a warning?Item A View of GMOs from the UK(AgBioForum, 1998) Loader, R. J. (Rupert J.); Henson, SpencerAt the present time, the genetically modified organism (GMO) issue is rapidly emerging as the next big theme in European food production post-BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy). The key question in this context is the degree to which the release of GMO-containing food products onto the United Kingdom (UK) market (and the associated press coverage) will further damage consumer confidence in the food supply chain and influence the types of food which consumers choose to buy. At the current time it is difficult to predict the impact of the GMO issue on consumer food choices in the UK.Item GMO Labeling : Threat or Opportunity?(AgBioForum, 1998) Phillips, Peter W. B.; Isaac, GrantThis paper examines the potential impact of both mandatory and voluntary labeling schemes on the research and commercialization of process-based and product-based GMO goods. The analysis concludes that mandatory labeling will impose excessive costs on the producers of GMO. This result would threaten the research and commercialization of GMO goods. In contrast, voluntary positive labeling of GMO-free goods, or of the presence of specific GMO attributes in goods would limit the producer costs. This result would be both commercially and socially optimal. Over the longer term, the labeling issue may diminish in importance when biotechnology is used to develop new product-based GMO goods with desirable attributes rather than simply to reduce costs of production.Item Should Use of Genetically Modified Organisms Be Labeled?(AgBioForum, 1998) Caswell, Julie A.Consumers are increasingly considering information on how foods are produced in making their buying decisions leading producers, processors, and retailers to do the same. Federal and state governments, as well as international standards organizations, face a dilemma in designing labeling programs for process attributes such as use of biotechnology. On the one hand, labeling is appropriate for process attributes that consumers care about and may be willing to pay more to get or avoid. On the other hand, regulators may be reluctant to label these attributes because they believe the labeling will be taken as an indicator of final, consumer-level safety in cases where it is not. In addition, labeling of process attributes may impose significant costs on an industry's supply chain related to segregating products and verification.