Plea for New Regulatory System for Modern Agriculture

Klaus Amman, Professor Emeritus of University of Bern, Switzerland in his handbook "The GM Crop Risk-Benefit Debate: Science and Socio-Economics" placed a picture of the current regulatory system and called for a new regulatory system for modern agriculture. In the handbook published online by Springer, Prof. Amman covered agricultural innovations, developments in risk handling of GM crops, cost and lost benefits of overregulation, dispute between scientists and opponents today, strategies to handle debate, and remarks on psychology, spirituality and general philosophy of the GMO debate.

He concluded by emphasizing the need for a continuation of an organized and professional dialogue on GM and called for biotechnology promoting international institutions to establish new regulatory "de minimis' rules for new breeds and traits. The latter recommendation mentioned existing international organizations such as the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, the United Nations Industrial Development Organizations, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the Public Research and Regulation, among others to start a long term discourse on biosafety of new traits.

For details see the full article downloadable at: http://www.ask-force.org/web/Sustain-Journal-Print/Ammann-Strategy-GMO-Debate-enh-20121206-opensource.pdf