Regulating the Liabilities of Agricultural Biotechnology

Regulating the Liabilities of Agricultural Biotechnology

by S Smyth; P W B Phillips; W A Kerr; G G Khachatourians

Pub Date: May 2004
Hardback
224 pages

Readership
Researchers and practitioners in biotechnology, agricultural economics, policy and law.

Key Features
• Shows how the genetic modification of crops has changed the nature of the liability debate and the application of the term
• Describes how risks can develop into liabilities
• Explores the diverse attitudes and responses in different countries (e.g. North America compared to the EU)
• Examines a range of institutions - public and private, collective and hybrid - focusing on their roles, mandates and impacts on liabilities and technologies

Main Description
This book examines how government, industry and society interact to reach a level of regulation that is deemed satisfactory for the newly-emerged transformative technology that is agricultural biotechnology. It considers issues of risk and trust surrounding genetically modified plants for the production of food and pharmaceuticals. It describes how regulations have been produced to manage, or in some cases ignore, the risks from GM products. The scope is international and the book makes a significant contribution to the literature in this growing field of interest.

Main Contents
PART I: INTRODUCTION
• Liability and Transformative Technology
PART II: DIAGNOSIS
• Innovation and Liability
• Social Amplification of Risk
• Consumer Responses to GM Foods
PART III: CURRENT PRESCRIPTIONS
• Regulating Transformative Technologies
• International Governance of Liabilities
• Biological Mechanisms to Control GM Liabilities
• Supply Chain Responses to Liability
• Product Differentiation Strategies
PART IV: PROGNOSIS
• Liability of Plant Made Pharmaceuticals
• Handling Liabilities from Transformative Technologies