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Biotechnology

Biotechnology

Steven P. McGiffen

(2005)

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Book Details

Abstract

Frankenfoods, designer babies, Dolly the Sheep and Raelian fantasists: few subjects generate as much controversy and misinformation as biotechnology. This book takes the reader behind the headlines to examine the new laws on genetic-based technologies, who's making them, and why.

Steven P. McGiffen offers a lucid analysis of the real implications of biotechnology legislation in the US and the EU, and contrasts it with approaches to agricultural and medical biotech in the rest of the world. He argues that the EU and America are removing decision-making power from the people and their elected representatives. Biotechnology regulation is a local manifestation of a global process of transferring power: from the people to corporations, from poor countries to rich ones, from the public to the private.

He shows that biotechnology demands effective and democratic international decision-making procedures - and that we are very far from achieving them. This is an indispensable guide for activists and anyone who wants to know more about how to control biotech regulation and how to resist handing control of our future to corporations.
'An expert yet accessible overview of the regulation of biotechnology, its champions and its detractors'
Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Contents v
Introduction 1
The European Union 6
THE BARCELONA DECLARATION 6
WHAT THE EU CAN AND CANNOT DO 7
THE STRANGE CASE OF EUROPE’S UNWANTED GMOs 8
FIRST STEPS IN REGULATING GMOs 12
FROM FIELD TO FORK: THE NEW LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR GMOs 14
SEEDS 24
CO-EXISTENCE 27
LIABILITY 31
ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 33
THE SIXTH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME 35
PATENT LAW 37
The United States 56
BOVINE SOMATROPIN 56
THE CORPORATE AGENDA 57
REGULATION 62
REGULATION AND PUBLIC OPINION 73
PHARMING 77
PATENTS 82
REPRODUCTIVE AND THERAPEUTIC CLONING 86
BIOETHICISTS 90
REGULATORY CAPTURE 91
Other Developed Countries 93
CANADA 93
AUSTRALIA 104
NEW ZEALAND 108
SWITZERLAND 117
JAPAN 119
THE NEWLY INDUSTRIALISED COUNTRIES 122
Developing Countries 130
COULD BIOTECH PUT AN END TO HUNGER? 130
THE (ATTEMPTED) RAPE OF AFRICA 136
INDIA 143
ARGENTINA 149
BRAZIL 153
ISNAR AND OTHERS: THE CARROT TO BUSH’S STICK 156
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: PRO-BIOTECH PROPAGANDA 158
OTHER ADVOCATES OF BIOTECH AS A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT 159
THIRD WORLD SCEPTICS 161
THE REAL SOLUTION LIES ELSEWHERE 162
International Treaties and Agreements 165
THE (CARTAGENA) BIOSAFETY PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY 166
OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS TOUCHING ON TRADE IN GMOs 179
PROPOSED UNITED NATIONS BAN ON HUMAN CLONING 182
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION ON THE HUMAN GENOME AND HUMAN RIGHTS 184
ATTEMPTS TO CURB BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS 185
Conclusion 188
GMOs: IRREVERSIBLE CONTAMINATION OF THE WORLD’S FOOD SUPPLY 188
MEDICINE AND HEALTH CARE 191
THE BOTTOM LINE 198
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations 202
Notes 208
Index 241