Inclusion and Implementation of Socio-Economic Considerations in GMO Regulations: Needs and Recommendations

Rosa Binimelis,Anne Myhr

doi:10.3390/su8010062

Abstract

Socio-economic considerations are included in the regulatory frameworks on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) of many countries. This is a reflection of an increasing interest in and recognition of the necessity to consider a broader range of issues when conducting a GMO risk assessment. At the same time, there are discussions about how socio-economic considerations can be identified and how their assessment can be carried out. To provide an understanding of the advances achieved so far, we describe the state of the art of existing biosafety institutional frameworks, legislation and policies with provisions on socio-economic considerations. We analyse the scope of the socio-economic considerations that have been included, the methodological options taken and the role of participatory processes and stakeholders involvement in the GMO-related decision-making. Since many of the countries that have legislation for assessing socio-economic considerations lack implementation experience, we provide an analysis of how implementation has evolved in Norway with the intention to illustrate that the inclusion of socio-economic considerations might be based on a learning process. Norway was the first country to include broader issues in its GMO assessment process, and is at present one of the countries with the most experience on implementation of these issues. Finally, we emphasise that there is a great need for training on how to perform assessments of socio-economic considerations, as well as reflection on possible ways for inclusion of participatory processes.

Highlights

There is an increasing international consensus that decision-makers need to consider a broader range of issues, beyond the environmental and health-related aspects, when assessing the use of agricultural biotechnologies [1,2,3,4]
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat has compiled a series of summaries and reports [23], as well as national surveys in order to assess how socio-economic considerations are taken into account [24]
This literature review of policy reports and academic papers allowed the identification of key contentious issues [14,16,19,22], most of them identified by Parties of the CBD as aspects that could contribute to the development of conceptual clarity on socio-economic considerations [7]: (a) how socio-economic considerations are defined (including the definition of socio-economic considerations in the analysed regulatory frameworks, the scope); (b) the methodological options and (c) the role of participatory processes and stakeholders involvement in the genetically modified organisms (GMOs)-related decision-making

Summary

Introduction

There is an increasing international consensus that decision-makers need to consider a broader range of issues, beyond the environmental and health-related aspects, when assessing the use of agricultural biotechnologies [1,2,3,4]. A broader assessment represents a way to emphasise social responsibility towards present and future generations [4], and to acknowlegde environmental and socio-economic aspects while taking into account the possible costs of both regulatory action and inaction [5]. In the regulatory or academic documents there is at present no general definition of what the “socio-economic considerations” that should be assessed are. As regards to the dimensions or aspects included as “socio-economic considerations”, the AdHoc Technical Group on Socio-Economic Considerations (AHTEG-Sec) of the Convention of Biological Diversity, recognised that there is no single agreed definition but considered that the scope of the term includes five dimensions: (a) economic; (b) social; (c) ecological; (d) cultural/traditional/religious/ethical; and (e) human-health related [7]

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion