Governing Risk in GM Agriculture: Governance of GM Crop and Food Safety in the United States

Introduction The safety of GM crops and foods is an issue that causes great public concern and stringent regulation in European nations and several other countries. In stark contrast, it receives little public attention in the United States, where GM crops and foods rapidly advance through permissive regulatory reviews into the marketplace. This chapter discusses the American approach to governing GM crop and food safety, and the cultural and political factors that shape this governance system. It then describes and evaluates the major federal regulatory programs and common law liability doctrines as they apply to safety issues and uncertainties in the development and marketing of GM crop seed; the growing of GM crops and their harvest, distribution, and sale to the manufacturers of processed food products; and the subsequent production and marketing of GM food products. Throughout the chapter, the fourfold concept of GM safety that was identified earlier in this book is addressed, namely whether the GM enterprise poses unacceptable risks to public health, natural resources, and conventional crops, and whether it reduces the consumer's ability to choose and acquire non-GM food products. The U.S. Context for GM Crops and Foods Among developed nations, the United States is the leading proponent and most permissive regulator of GM crops and foods. Congress has generously supported scientific research on crop genetics and applications of genetic engineering to agriculture, but refrained from legislating new requirements to deal with adverse consequences.