In public debate over agricultural biotechnology, at issue hasbeen its self-proclaimed aim of further industrializingagriculture. Using languages of ’risk‘, critics and proponentshave engaged in an implicit ethics debate on the direction oftechnoscientific development. Critics have...

Public controversy has intensifed over the environmental effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) amid contending accounts of sustainable agriculture. In regulating these products, the UK has extended its 'consultative' style, seeking to maintain the appearance of expert neutrality. To...

As genetically modified (GM) products approach the market stage, the UK government and agro-food industry have faced a suspicious or hostile public. Since 1998 many retail chains have undertaken to exclude any GM-derived ingredients from their own-brand lines. This commercial blockage has...

The first genetically modified crops and foods to be approved for commercial use in the European Union have prompted intense controversy. Food retailers and processors have been forced to take up the concerns voiced by their customers. New networks of groups have formed to oppose the technology....

Despite various institutional reforms in the European Union (EU), regulatory procedures for genetically modified (GM) products are still held up by disagreements among experts; claims about a product's safety often correspond to a narrower account of precaution than broader counter-claims from...

UK biotechnology regulation has developed ‘precautionary controls’ for GMO releases. Stringent legislation was drafted and eventually implemented by the Department of Environment (DoE). In parallel, the DoE established a broadly-based advisory committee, which included ecologists and an...

Since various crises concerning food safety in the European Union (EU), institutional reforms have been designed to regain public confidence in regulatory decisions and their expert basis. By Europeanising advisory expertise, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was also intended to help...