Genes, Trade, and Regulation: The Seeds of Conflict in Food Biotechnology

by Thomas Bernauer

Overview

Agricultural (or "green") biotechnology is a source of growing tensions in the global trading system, particularly between the United States and the European Union. Genetically modified food faces an uncertain future. The technology behind it might revolutionize food production around the world. Or it might follow the example of nuclear energy, which declined from a symbol of socioeconomic progress to become one of the most unpopular and uneconomical innovations in history.


This book provides novel and thought-provoking insights into the fundamental policy issues involved in agricultural biotechnology. Thomas Bernauer explains global regulatory polarization and trade conflict in this area. He then evaluates cooperative and unilateral policy tools for coping with trade tensions. Arguing that the tools used thus far have been and will continue to be ineffective, he concludes that the risk of a full-blown trade conflict is high and may lead to reduced investment and the decline of the technology. Bernauer concludes with suggestions for policy reforms to halt this trajectory—recommendations that strike a sensible balance between public-safety concerns and private economic freedom—so that food biotechnology is given a fair chance to prove its environmental, health, humanitarian, and economic benefits.


This book will equip companies, farmers, regulators, NGOs, academics, students, and the interested public—including both advocates and critics of green biotechnology—with a deeper understanding of the political, economic, and societal factors shaping the future of one of the most revolutionary technologies of our times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691170893
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	06/28/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Thomas Bernauer is Professor of Political Science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and a widely published author on international economic and environmental issues.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Chapter One: Introduction and Summary 1

Chapter Two: Challenges 22

Chapter Three: Polarization 44

Chapter Four: Interest Group Politics 66

Chapter Five: Regulatory Federalism 102

Chapter Six: International Trade Conflict 118

Chapter Seven: Coping with Diversity 168

Notes 185

References 213

Index 225

What People are Saying About This

Victor

Despite working from the same body of scientific assessments, governments in Europe and North America have arrived at polar opposite conclusions about the safety of genetically engineered foods—national differences that have magnified into a global food fight. Where other studies of this problem wear blinders as they attempt to brand novel foods 'good' or 'bad,' this refreshingly clinical analysis instead trains the analytical tools of political science on the root causes of regulatory polarization. Not only does Bernauer reveal why Europe and America have arrived on opposite sides of the controversy—and why the gap is likely to yawn further—he also offers a market-based strategy for accommodating regulatory diversity in this era of globalization.
— David G. Victor, author of "Collapse of the Kyoto Protocol"

Erik Millstone

This book provides a clear and well-developed argument that the successful development of the agricultural biotechnology sector depends on numerous decisions that have yet to be taken and would require the alignment of research and innovation strategies far more closely to consumer and regulatory requirements than has hitherto been the case.
— Erik Millstone, Science Policy Research Unit, Sussex University

From the Publisher

"Despite working from the same body of scientific assessments, governments in Europe and North America have arrived at polar opposite conclusions about the safety of genetically engineered foods—national differences that have magnified into a global food fight. Where other studies of this problem wear blinders as they attempt to brand novel foods 'good' or 'bad,' this refreshingly clinical analysis instead trains the analytical tools of political science on the root causes of regulatory polarization. Not only does Bernauer reveal why Europe and America have arrived on opposite sides of the controversy—and why the gap is likely to yawn further—he also offers a market-based strategy for accommodating regulatory diversity in this era of globalization."—David G. Victor, author of Collapse of the Kyoto Protocol

"Policymakers, scholars, and every citizen concerned about the future of the environment, hunger, human health, and the world food supply should read this book."—Ronald Mitchell, University of Oregon

"This book provides a clear and well-developed argument that the successful development of the agricultural biotechnology sector depends on numerous decisions that have yet to be taken and would require the alignment of research and innovation strategies far more closely to consumer and regulatory requirements than has hitherto been the case."—Erik Millstone, Science Policy Research Unit, Sussex University

Ronald Mitchell

Policymakers, scholars, and every citizen concerned about the future of the environment, hunger, human health, and the world food supply should read this book.
— Ronald Mitchell, University of Oregon

Recipe

"Despite working from the same body of scientific assessments, governments in Europe and North America have arrived at polar opposite conclusions about the safety of genetically engineered foods—national differences that have magnified into a global food fight. Where other studies of this problem wear blinders as they attempt to brand novel foods 'good' or 'bad,' this refreshingly clinical analysis instead trains the analytical tools of political science on the root causes of regulatory polarization. Not only does Bernauer reveal why Europe and America have arrived on opposite sides of the controversy—and why the gap is likely to yawn further—he also offers a market-based strategy for accommodating regulatory diversity in this era of globalization."—David G. Victor, author of Collapse of the Kyoto Protocol

"Policymakers, scholars, and every citizen concerned about the future of the environment, hunger, human health, and the world food supply should read this book."—Ronald Mitchell, University of Oregon

"This book provides a clear and well-developed argument that the successful development of the agricultural biotechnology sector depends on numerous decisions that have yet to be taken and would require the alignment of research and innovation strategies far more closely to consumer and regulatory requirements than has hitherto been the case."—Erik Millstone, Science Policy Research Unit, Sussex University

Editorial Reviews

The past decade has witnessed a growing transatlantic conflict over genetically modified (GM) crops. Great advances in microbiology have opened the way for revolutionary improvements in agricultural productivity and in reduced use of pesticides and herbicides. But many people, especially in Europe, fear genetic modification — despite the fact that they have been eating products genetically modified through selective breeding all their lives. Bernauer, a political scientist based in Zurich, does not take a position on whether GM foods are, on balance, good or bad. He is concerned instead with the political dynamics of the current U.S.-EU impasse on GM products, stemming from disagreement over their health and environmental impacts, and with the deleterious effects that this impasse will have on consumer confidence in GM foods, on the world trading system (especially the World Trade Organization), and on developing countries, which have the potential to benefit most from GM crops. After a thorough exploration of this ongoing controversy, Bernauer proposes a course of action, aimed at political compromise, to break the impasse.

Foreign Affairs

Winner of the 2005 Don K. Price Award, Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

From the Publisher

Bernauer's book is the best single reference currently available treating the regulatory struggle surrounding GE (genetically engineered) foods and food crops. . . . Bernauer does not just skim the surface; with remarkable stamina and a sure analytical touch he lays the details of each issue carefully and thoroughly before readers. At a moment when polemics dominate most discussions of GE food policy, the Bernauer volume has arrived just in time.

Quarterly Review of Biology - Robert Paarlberg

[An] important and definitive book on agricultural biotechnology and the deepening trade dispute between the United States and the European Union. . . .. Bernauer has done a first-rate job of exploring this contentious trade issue in an understandable way.

Perspectives in Political Science - Dennis Pirages

Bernauer's book is the best single reference currently available treating the regulatory struggle surrounding GE (genetically engineered) foods and food crops. . . . Bernauer does not just skim the surface; with remarkable stamina and a sure analytical touch he lays the details of each issue carefully and thoroughly before readers. At a moment when polemics dominate most discussions of GE food policy, the Bernauer volume has arrived just in time.
— Robert Paarlberg

Quarterly Review of Biology

[An] important and definitive book on agricultural biotechnology and the deepening trade dispute between the United States and the European Union. . . .. Bernauer has done a first-rate job of exploring this contentious trade issue in an understandable way.
— Dennis Pirages

Perspectives in Political Science