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

Abstract

This study investigates municipalities’ regulatory activities in the field of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) for agricultural use. To explore the determinants of these activities, the case of Germany was selected as in this country, municipalities have legal possibilities to impose local GMO cultivation bans. Using data from 131 local council resolutions, the combination of qualitative and quantitative content analysis shows that, in most cases, no single factors, but a variety of factors lead to regulatory activity. The study reveals that functional motivations to prevent negative socio-economic effects or impacts on the environment or human health are decisive for municipalities’ decisions to regulate. Furthermore, the results of the quantitative analysis unveil that municipalities often refer to both socio-economic reasons and risks for the environment and human health when justifying their decisions. Moreover, the results indicate that local policymakers impose popular cultivation bans to promote their own political success. Finally, the horizontal diffusion of regulations between municipalities, but also vertical diffusion from higher political levels can be observed. Overall, the results of this study on GMOs on a local level further emphasize the importance of analyzing the interdependencies between agroecosystems and socio-economic systems in their full complexity.

Pathways of Conflict: Lessons from the Cultivation of MON810 in Germany in 2005–2008 for Emerging Conflicts over New Breeding Techniques

“…An area of uncertainty is how the (partial) absence of traceability, i.e., the means to distinguish products of NBTs from those of conventional breeding techniques, will limit the 'transfer' of forms of protest developed during the conflicts over GMOs. In principle, the absence of traceability could invalidate not only field liberations, but also the establishment of GMO-free regions or municipalities [76,77]. Another open question is how it might affect the nature and scale of protest activities when the organisms concerned are not plants, but animals.…”

Should we still worry about the safety of GMO foods? Why and why not? A review

“…However, since the start of wide exercise of modern biotechnology in the early 1980s for genetic improvement of food crops (Chassy, 2007 ), there have never been any direct safety hazard reported from any GE or GMOs. Moreover, governments have established the most strict testing measures for the safety of GMOs over the last decades to make sure public safety and environmental sustainability, as summarized in multiple scientific documentations (Davison & Ammann, 2017 ; Hartung & Schaub, 2018 ; Smyth & Phillips, 2014 ). However, the pseudo concerns over the safety and environmental sustainability of GMOs were extremely heightened by consumers and social media activism together with misconceptions aired by mainstream medias in the western world and by some governments, particularly in the European Union, which were also reported in scientific publications (Ammann, 2014 ; Kuntz, 2012 ; Masip et al., 2013 ; Tagliabue, 2015 ).…”

A Case of ‘Muddling Through’? The Politics of Renewing Glyphosate Authorization in the European Union

“…The comitology procedure for the (renewal of) authorization of GMOs and active substances includes the following steps [22,[24][25][26]: First, a company submits an application to an EU member state. That member state-termed the 'rapporteur member state'-is then tasked with the initial scientific and technical evaluation of the GMO or active ingredient concerned, and prepares an assessment report that is in turn submitted to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).…”