TY  - CHAP
AB  - Purpose – New genetically modified (GM) crops are novel but risky interventions, offering a variety of potential benefits but also the possibility of serious unintended consequences. I address the regulatory framework for GM crops, seeking protection from disproportionate risks without unduly stifling innovation.Approach – Conditions that may justify precautionary interventions are identified, and an idealized regulatory protocol (screening, pre-release testing, and post-release surveillance, STS) is developed to provide protection, encourage research and learning, and focus-in quickly on the cases that pose serious threats of harm. This protocol is adapted to the case of GM crops, and compared with current regulatory practice in the United States, the EU, and Canada, as well as international agreements exemplified by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Two real-world cases are considered, Starlink® corn and Roundup-Ready® canola, and some speculations are offered as to how the stylized protocol might have handled them.Findings for policy – Pre-release, US regulatory practice is more fragmented and incomplete than the stylized protocol; EU practice is more systematic and streamlined, but some critics perceive over-regulation; and Canadian regulatory practice is more consistent with the protocol. Only the EU performs systematic post-release surveillance. International agreements have various weaknesses, beginning with fragmentation: for example, food safety and biosafety are regulated separately.Implications for further research – Embracing the STS framework opens a broad new avenue of research about to how the mix of pre-release testing and post-release surveillance might be streamlined to provide adequate protection while reducing further the costs and delays entailed.
VL  - 10
SN  - 978-0-85724-758-2, 978-0-85724-757-5/1574-8715
DO  - 10.1108/S1574-8715(2011)0000010019
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S1574-8715(2011)0000010019
AU  - Randall Alan
ED  - Colin A. Carter
ED  - GianCarlo Moschini
ED  - Ian Sheldon
PY  - 2011
Y1  - 2011/01/01
TI  - Chapter 14 Innovation, Risk, Precaution, and the Regulation of GM Crops
T2  - Genetically Modified Food and Global Welfare
T3  - Frontiers of Economics and Globalization
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 337
EP  - 367
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -