Sustainability Lecture Part 3 SOC165 Spring 2010 [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 2 In Part 3 •Sustainability in debate: •The precautionary principle and GMO’s healthy%20soybeans image602 360983 [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 3 Precautionary Principle •Wingspread Statement: • •“When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.” [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 4 Precautionary Principle •The concept has been codified in: •The areas of food law & consumer protection, research & trade •1992 Rio UN Declaration on Environment & Development •1992 Maastricht Treaty •In 2000, the European Commission issued a Communication on the precautionary principle in which it adopted a procedure for the application of the concept [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 5 Precautionary Principle •If a technique or technology could be harmful, limit it or do not use it •Worldwatch: Adopt PP because of the high uncertainty of our understanding of ecosystems and the impacts, for example, of many chemicals HazMat_team_sampling_large RRE-Hazardous-Waste-Removal [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 6 PP and GMO’s •GMO = “genetically modified organism” •New breeding of plants and animals using DNA manipulation •Debate over possible health and environmental effects Research-in-a-genetic-engineering-laboratory central_research_laboratory 800px-Corn_field_ohio cow dna1 [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 7 GMO Advocates •Monsanto: “Biotech” is good for environment and society –Less pesticides –More productive –Farmers have more free time –More profitable for farmers cornfield farmer-john-cornfield 2007-6-6-farmer [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 8 More GMO Benefits? •Feed many parts of the world •Allow agriculture in marginal areas •Better nutrition •Reduce waste •Make agriculture more predictable •Same as traditional breeding Basmati image004 [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 9 Negative Aspects of GMOs? •Genetic material may enter environment •Unknown health effects •Economics: entraps poor farmers through use of sterile (“killer”) seeds and private patents •Loss of local food crops & methods •Promotes industrial-style agriculture • [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 10 Changes in Agricultural Production •Farmers who want to be organic may have GMO blow onto their fields •Structural issue: even if you grow organic, must be shipped through GMO facilities – destroying the “organic” quality •Commodification of seeds –“Killer seeds” undermine self-sufficiency, impose reliance on corporations for new seeds –“Bio-piracy” (e.g., Basmati rice) [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 11 Changes to Food Consumption •More homogenous, mass-produced food in stores? •Consumers want information so they can choose non-GMO products •Companies want to keep info secret; claim there is no risk gmo [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 12 The Role of the State •How regulate patents on life forms? •GMOs may impose risks on whole population •Should step impose precautionary principle, or allow free market to work? gmo_380 GMO_Free1024 bxl_30_09_03_no_gmo_1 basmati_rice_3 [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 13 Human – Nature Relations •What is human relationship to nature? •Can companies patent life-forms? •Commodification of life itself for private profit •Debates about scientific knowledge and who should make choices about agricultural policy PIYCover intl_patent_lg [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 14 GMOs and Sustainability ao04_05a CombineHarvester [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 15 End of Part 3 Continue to Part 4. 02farm [USEMAP] Sustainability ● Part 3 16 Citations Used in This Lecture •Bell, M. (2004) An Invitation to Environmental Sociology. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press.