Call Prefix : PR-MS

Call Suffix : 2001

Call Cutter : BIC28

Location : SEARCA Library

Format : Printed

Series : PSP Seminar Monograph No. 05-02

Publication Date : 2001

Publication Place : College, Laguna (Philippines),

Summary : Assessing the contribution that genetic engineering can make toward fighting hunger in developing countries is not "simply" an academic task involving facts and figures and rational evaluation. The interpretation of data is subject to the interests and value judgments of a variety of stakeholders. Identical information can lead some to consider agricultural biotechnologies to be among the most powerful and economically promising means of ensuring food security, and others to perceive them as a threat to development in poor countries. The notion that there is no such thing as one reality seems prevalent in discussions of biotechnology, as it does in discussion of all major social issues. Apart from the issue of plurality of opinion is the issue of balance. The media are more likely to take up wild stories about the creation of monsters and scientists who lack morals than to dwell on stories about slow but steady progress toward the creation of pest-tolerant rice. When the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich recently informed the world that it was possible to genetically modify rice so that it contain vitamin A and iron, an achievement of potentially immense benefit to poor, malnourished people, no media echo occurred. But when news broke that larvae of the Monarch butterfly were damaged in a genetically modified crop experiment not representative of natural conditions, the story was taken as clear evidence that genetic engineering causes incalculable harm to biodiversity. Because we live in a world of heterogenous social systems, with a multitude of value judgments and interests, we should expect differing evaluations. On the one hand, the use of biotechnology leads to obvious and significant benefits in the form of increased production and productivity, enhanced environmental sustainability, and improved food safety and quality. On the other hand, biotechnology involves a number of economic, social and ecological risks.