Transnational Narratives and Regulation of GMO Risks

This book employs transnational legal analysis as a methodological framework to deconstruct narratives on agricultural biotechnologies from within, across and beyond the nation state level. The book frames the transnational conundrum of genetically engineered organisms against the background of hegemonic and counter-hegemonic narratives and two ideal regulatory models: evidence-based and socially acceptable risk approaches. The analysis cuts across US law, EU law, the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and hybrid standards, exploring relevant regulatory frameworks and case law. The book demonstrates that both transnational narratives are socially and politically constructed, and neither ideal regulatory model can lay claim to neutrality and objectivity. It argues that regulatory choices are always, directly or indirectly, informed by non-scientific normative frames. Three factors determine the threshold of legally relevant adverse effects: recourse to more or less prudential approaches to risk assessment, regulatory focus on ‘sound science’ or on multiple forms of uncertainty, and the extent to which regulators prioritise the cost-benefit effectiveness of risk governance measures, as opposed to pursuing enhanced protection and considering other legitimate factors. The regulation of agricultural biotechnologies thus becomes a lens through which to investigate the underlying value systems, goals and far-reaching implications of transnational discourses on the governance of uncertain risks. Against this backdrop, the normative strand of analysis points to the limited ability of science and procedural deliberation to generate authentic agreement and to identify normatively legitimate solutions, in the absence of pre-existing shared perspectives.