Social Disputes over GMOs: An Overview

Abstract

This review provides an overview of social research on genetically modified crops (GM crops), also known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Academic inquiry on the social disputes over the future of agriculture biotechnology has multiplied since the mid-1990s, when the first seeds were approved for market commercialization. This essay identifies and describes five prominent analytical approaches to explain public controversies over GMOs: the political economy of food and agriculture, social studies on science, democracy theory, research on corporations and hegemony, and social movement and peasant studies. This overview concludes by arguing that these different strains, although each privileging one analytical dimension and one level of analysis, converge in (i) the definition of the relevant explanatory factors, (ii) in the identification of the various levels of analysisglobal, transnational, national and localinvolved in the issue and (iii) in the prognostic that social disputes over GMOs are likely to remain a topic of public and scholar interest in the near future.

Building a Public Controversy

“…4 When science does become controversial in public, it is often the implications of new scientific ideas or technologies which are contested, for example as seen in 1990s debates over genetically modified foods. 5 Less commonly, scientists make and contest knowledge claims in the public sphere instead of or alongside their usual fora of academic journals. This makes scientific uncertainties, changing knowledge and questioning of established ideas publicly visible, with significant implications for policy.…”

The Regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms on a Local Level: Exploring the Determinants of Cultivation Bans

“…Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the various reasons as to why municipalities become active and impose bans on GMO cultivation in their respective areas. Motta [72] (p. 1370) stated that 'the social and environmental effects of the global expansion of biotechnology are mostly concentrated at the local level, in the rural and suburban communities that surround GM fields'. The study at hand demonstrated that GMO farming is a multi-dimensional issue at the local level: in local councils across Germany, disparate, but almost exclusively negatively biased views dominated on the (potential) effects of this farming practice, which in turn often triggered political decisions against GMO cultivation.…”

The ambivalent regulator: the construction of a regulatory style for genetically modified crops in Chile

“…Almost 20 years after the introduction of the first genetically modified (GM) food into the market, the debate over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) remains contentious (Motta 2014;Hilbeck et al 2015;Yamaguchi and Suda 2010;Levidow and Carr 2007;Bonneuil, Pierre-Benoit, and Marris 2008;Pechlaner 2012). Far from having reached a consensual stage, the discussion seems to be ever more polarized, intense and conflictive (Krimsky 2015;Bernauer et al 2011;Hindmarsh and Parkinson 2013;Fischer et al 2015;Rodriguez-Cerezo and Stein 2010;Borch and Rasmussen 2005;Freidberg and Horowitz 2004;Herrick 2005;Levidow and Carr 2007).…”

“…Far from having reached a consensual stage, the discussion seems to be ever more polarized, intense and conflictive (Krimsky 2015;Bernauer et al 2011;Hindmarsh and Parkinson 2013;Fischer et al 2015;Rodriguez-Cerezo and Stein 2010;Borch and Rasmussen 2005;Freidberg and Horowitz 2004;Herrick 2005;Levidow and Carr 2007). As with other iconic technological innovations (Bauer 1995), there is no public or academic consensus about the risks and benefits involved in the use of GMOs (Motta 2014). Pro-and anti-GM arguments have multiplied, and are often framed as a mix of economic, agricultural, ethical, environmental, political, ecological, and cultural issues.…”