CIAO DATE: 07/03

Plant Biotechnology and the Environment

Introduction

Many people who worry about the environmental effects of plant biotechnology fear that we are dealing with some new threat. I would argue that this is not the case. It is not plant biotechnology that is new and unknown, it is the combination of biotechnology and globalization, and the incredibly fast pace at which the two spread and interact, that should concern us.

A biotech development in one country is suddenly being planted in the fields of another country. This may be happening against the laws of that recipient country. Or it may be happening outside the national laws, because that nation has not yet developed a system of biotech regulations. Effects of the rapid spread in the use of biotech species are communicated quickly around the world, often incorrectly, as I shall show later.

What all of this means is that biotechnology is not a new threat. What is new is that we now have a biological technology whose causes and effects and benefits and repercussions are being 'globalized' incredibly rapidly. This is new. The net effect is that it is impossible to address plant biotechnology and the environment as the concern of a single nation, even if that nation is the most scientifically advanced in the world. The framework for thinking about biotechnology and the environment now is global, not national—although it must be firmly supported by national structures. A truly global framework for policy and action will be difficult to achieve. But it is required.

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