The Intrinsic Value and Integrity of Plants in the Context of Genetic Engineering A Discussion Document prepared for the Ifgene Workshop at the Goetheanum,
نویسنده
چکیده
A few years ago nobody would have seriously considered that public resistance to genetically modified food products would rise so dramatically within such a short time. We will not attempt to single out one cause for this development. It is a combination of several factors: 10 • the sudden realisation that genetically modified (GM) foods made from maize and soya are already present in many foods without the public being aware of it (no labelling) • the aggressive propaganda of some multinationals • the fact that the first transgenic products were hardly of any benefit to consumers (the benefit was mainly for the producers, if at all) 15 • the development of 'terminator' seeds by Monsanto • the Pusztai affair, manifesting a tremendous lack of agreement among scientists about the risks of GMOs further along the food chain • several ‘accidents’: the Starlink maize affair (approved as food for cattle, but found in hundreds of human food items); the damage to caterpillars of the Monarch butterfly by Bt20 maize; the double herbicide resistance present in transgenic sugar beet (Aventis); incidents of contamination of regular seed with GM seed. • the publication by Greenpeace of lists of ‘red’ and ‘green’ (no GMOs) products; the direct actions against GM crops and foods in fields and supermarkets 25 Resistance is now widespread in Europe and is growing in the USA. Consumer concerns are now taken seriously. This is primarily because there is unanimous agreement that consumers should be free to choose and this automatically includes some form of labelling. Meanwhile it is becoming clear that this ethical demand has tremendous consequences for the whole food chain (problems with segregation, identity preservation etc.) 30
منابع مشابه
Intrinsic Value: Towards A Pragmatic Theory
Intrinsic value is a concept central to the environmentalist movement. Whether one believes that natural objects have intrinsic value is supposed to determine whether one takes a ecocentric or homocentric approach to environmentalism, whether we practice deep or (merely) shallow ecology. Yet this concept is also a center of controversy and confusion. Just what does it mean for something to ha...
متن کاملRegeneration of Glyphosate-Tolerant Nicotiana tabacum after Plastid Transformation with a Mutated Variant of Bacterial aroA gene
Presence of antibiotic resistance markers has always been considered as one of the main safety concerns in transgenic plants and their derived products. Elimination of antibiotic selectable markers from transgenics is a major hurdle for finding efficient and safe candidates. Herbicide tolerance genes might be attractive alternatives. In this study, a variant form of the 5-enoylpyruvyl shikimate...
متن کاملBenchmarking Professional Ethics Documents at Universities; Providing the Pattern and Solutions
This research aims to benchmark (national and international) experiences in the field of professional ethics documents at universities and provides solutions to improve it. The study population consisted of 100 top universities in the world (based on the Shanghai ranking) and 539 universities in Iran. Of these, 59 universities in Iran and 100 universities abroad have professional ethics documen...
متن کاملخانه های تاریخی با نقشی فراتر از مسکن در بافت تاریخی اصفهان
According to the lifestyle, house can be the ground for extensive activities based on employment, cultural, social opportunities for residents. In accordance with needs and activities of human as a space user, Historical houses are built associated with the natural environment. Recognition and protection of values Respect national identity, and Understanding their performance and social role is...
متن کاملSimulation and Genetic Algorithms for Optimizing Comminution Circuit at Gol-e-Gohar Iron Plant (RESEARCH NOTE)
simulation optimization is a scientific tool that is widely used to design and optimize comminution circuits in mineral processing plants. In this research, first of all, in order to determine the suitable d80 for cicuit hydrocyclone underflow, the requiremed parameters of simulator (residence time distribution, breakage function, selection function and Plitt’s model calibration) were determin...
متن کامل