Food for the Few: Neoliberal Globalism and Biotechnology in Latin America

CHAPTER 4. Biosafety Regulation and Global Governance: The Problem of Absentee Expertise in Latin America

CHAPTER 4 Biosafety Regulation and Global Governance: The Problem of Absentee Expertise in Latin America Kees Jansen and Esther Roquas Global developments are putting pressure on Latin American countries to construct regulatory frameworks that open the path for a smooth introduction of transgenic crops. Prompting demands for regulations are a series of factors, including technological uncertainties; potential high risks such as biosafety, human health, and changes in agrarian structures; the ethics of modifying nature; and the huge economic interests involved. The latter interests stem from high investments and projected future profits in the so-called “life sciences” industries. Three major issues are prominent: First, the regulation of intellectual property rights. Concerns in this regard include the interests of transnational “life science” companies to patent their technological innovations and monopolize markets, and prepare developing countries (or indigenous communities) to commodify their local knowledge and control of genetic resources through bioprospecting and benefit sharing with foreign companies. A classical and well-publicized example of the latter is the INBio-Merck bioprospecting agreement in Costa Rica (Aguilar-Støen and Dhillion 2003; Artuso 2002). In this agreement the commercial utilization of Costa Rica’s biodiversity was made possible in exchange for up-front monetary compensation, training, technology transfer, and future royalties. A second regulatory issue concerns risk assessment procedures addressing biosafety (and to a lesser extent food safety) when transgenic seeds or other biotechnology products are being introduced (e.g., Burachik and Traynor 2002; Newell and Mackenzie 2000). Third, there are societal concerns about the socioeconomic consequences and the direction of modern agriculture and agro-industrialization once biotechnology use is spreading. Brazil is one of the few countries where this issue has become a real topic in public debates about the admission of transgenic crops and is being discussed along with biosafety issues (Pelaez and Schmidt 2004; Jepson et al., this volume; Hisano and Altoé, this volume). In most other Latin American countries the possible impact of biotechnology on agrarian change has not yet been an issue of wider public concern. Ethical concerns about the rights of humankind to manipulate nature have not received such prominent attention in Latin America as in some European countries, at least in the field of plant biotechnology—to which we limit our account. The topic of biosafety regulation, in particular, has gained importance in recent years. Social movements against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have pushed for more regulation to halt uncontrolled introductions of transgenic crops. They point to the continuous pressure of the U.S. government to open up their countries for doing field trials with GMOs, a pressure that is difficult to contest. Some pro-GMO coalitions consider overabundance of regulation to be a hindrance for public sector involvement in biotechnology (FAO 2003). Other pro-GMO coalitions, however, regard a lack of biosafety regulation as a potential source for future controversies and a hindrance to the introduction of transgenic crops. Harmonization of biosafety laws should enhance trade opportunities , they believe. An international consensus emerged to push for proper biosafety regulation in developing countries, mainly through the vehicle of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which is an outcome of the 1992 UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The Cartagena Protocol was entered into force on 11 September 2003 and stipulates that a participating country develops a biosafety regulatory framework to deal with GMO release in the environment and its potential adverse consequences (Art. 1). This chapter explores the interactions evolving between Latin American countries and international organizations to establish biosafety regulatory frameworks in the shortest possible time. A series of critical questions will be raised about the current trend to harmonize biosafety regulations. We will argue that the problem of developing biosafety regulatory frameworks cannot be reduced to the relatively simple problem of how to increase local scientific and regulatory capacity. The issue is much broader and requires proper attention to controversies and contrasting views around biotechnology, the heterogeneity of national political cultures and socio-economic conditions, and the complexities of regulation making and implementation in weak and developmental states. The making of biosafety regulation is thus basically a sociopolitical issue and not a technocratic issue. The latter receives ample attention of international organizations; the former receives hardly any. 92 Food for the Few Biosafety Regulation and Global Governance Biosafety risks cross national boundaries and are thus by their very nature an international issue. This section discusses who participates in expertise building and political negotiations about...