GMOs and the Crisis of Objectivity: Nature, Science and the Challenge of Uncertainty

Abstract

This article contributes to the current debate on the meaning and regulation of biotechnology by focusing on the role that the concepts of nature and sound science play in framing struggles against agricultural biotechnology in India. It contends that the political work of these concepts consists of limiting democratic deliberation by neatly separating facts from values and scientific certainty from politics. In particular, it aims to show that both the invocation of nature and reliance on sound science are counterproductive for the more interesting challenges opponents are already articulating outside the boundaries drawn by the nature/society, science/politics and facts/ values distinctions. Indeed, the political significance of the collective experimentations going on in India (as elsewhere) is that they signal a shift from a risk mentality, centred on ‘hard facts’ supposed to settle the debate, to novel approaches to uncertainty that recognize the increasing controversies surrounding GMOs. These approaches, it is argued, provide a more interesting space for thinking about the uncertainty surrounding biotechnological crops and the relations we (might) share with them.