The Politics of Precaution

Robert L. Paarlberg
Why haven't more developing countries begun planting GM crops? In poor countries many farmers are far from being fully productive and many citizens must worry more about food availability or food cost than about unconfirmed food safety dangers. In poor countries the development imperative ordinarily trumps issues of environmental precaution. So why has a pattern of policy resistance to GM crops emerged instead? In this original study Robert Paarlberg examines local policy responses to GM crop technologies in four important developing countries: Brazil, India, Kenya, and China. He shows that in the first three of these countries regulatory authorities have not yet given farmers official permission to plant any GM crops. And in China, where farmers have been permitted to plant GM cotton, regulators are still holding back on the release of most GM food and feed crops, even though China's own national agricultural research system has invested a considerable effort in developing such crops. 2001, ISBN 0-8018-6823-8.