The need for more inclusive deliberation on ethics and governance in agricultural and food biotechnology

ABSTRACT

An inclusive and socially legitimate governance structure is absent to address concerns over new agricultural biotechnologies. Establishing an agricultural bioethics commission devoted to inclusive deliberation on ethics and governance in agricultural and food biotechnology is urgent. Highlighting the social and ethical dimensions of current agricultural bioengineering disputes in the food system, we discuss how a nationally recognized policy forum could improve decision-making and increase public understanding of the issues. We clarify ways the concepts that are used to categorize food and frame governance of food affect consumer choices, and how dissemination of information and the mode of dissemination can contribute to social inequities. We cite the record of medically-oriented bioethic commissions and the history of international bioethic commissions in support of our argument, and end by discussing what such a commission dedicated to agriculture and food issues could reasonably be expected to achieve.

KEYWORDS:

• Bioethics commissions
• agricultural governance
• food bioengineering disputes
• agricultural bioethics
• agricultural biotechnology regulation
• agricultural epistemologies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture Grant: ‘Social Implications of Emerging Technologies in Agriculture’ Catherine Kendig, Principal Investigator: NIFA/USDA [grant number 2020-67023-31635]. The findings and conclusions in this preliminary publication have not been formally disseminated by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy.