2024 journal article
The need for more inclusive deliberation on ethics and governance in agricultural and food biotechnology
JOURNAL OF RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION, 11(1).
author keywords: Bioethics commissions; agricultural governance; food bioengineering disputes; agricultural bioethics; agricultural biotechnology regulation; agricultural epistemologies
doi.org (publisher)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: March 25, 2024
An inclusive and socially legitimate governance structure is absent to address concerns over new agricultural biotechnologies. Establishing an agricultural bioethics commission devoted to inclusive deliberation on ethics and governance in agricultural and food biotechnology is urgent. Highlighting the social and ethical dimensions of current agricultural bioengineering disputes in the food system, we discuss how a nationally recognized policy forum could improve decision-making and increase public understanding of the issues. We clarify ways the concepts that are used to categorize food and frame governance of food affect consumer choices, and how dissemination of information and the mode of dissemination can contribute to social inequities. We cite the record of medically-oriented bioethic commissions and the history of international bioethic commissions in support of our argument, and end by discussing what such a commission dedicated to agriculture and food issues could reasonably be expected to achieve.