Societal Concerns and the Precautionary Principle Doubt, Risk, and Science: Where Do We Go from Here?

The Precautionary Principle Workshop on Societal Concerns “Dealing with Uncertainty, precaution vs. science – polar opposites or a continuum” “purpose is to provide a venue for discussion of issues outside of the usual format”

Complex Topic, Difficult Policy Decisions Google: Precautionary Principle 602,000 hits Societal Concerns: 3,370,000 hits Sex: 49,000,000 hits

Societal Concerns: Definition Difficult…. “Crafting a universally applicable, comprehensive, and analytically tractable nomenclature of (ever evolving) societal concerns whose occurrence is at the farm level is a moving target. It should be stressed that just as defining societal concerns can be subject to subjective opinions, their classification suffers from the same shortcoming.” (OECD - The Trade and Trade Policy Implications of Different Policy Responses to Societal Concerns)

Societal Concerns: Definition “… the risks or threats from hazards which impact on society and which, if realised, could have adverse repercussions for the institutions responsible for putting in place the provisions and arrangements for protecting people, e.g. Parliament or the Government of the day.” OECD from Ball and Boehmer-Christiansen (2002)

Precautionary Principle: Definition Rio Earth Summit 1992 Principle 15 Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost- effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE: The U.S. Position is well known… “ the United States submits – precaution is not a principle of international law … precaution cannot even be defined” July 29, 2004 – Executive Summary Submission of the Rebuttal Submission of the United States – WTO vs. European Communities

But… chief veterinary officer for the USDA, characterized the decision as "acting out of an abundance of caution." * USDA Press Conferences, December, 2003 *Provisional Measure

Merriam-Webster says: Precaution: a measure taken beforehand to prevent harm or secure good Caution: prudent forethought to minimize risk

Precaution vs. Risk “the precautionary principle, for all its rhetorical appeal, is deeply incoherent … there are always risks on both sides of a decision; inaction can bring danger, but so can action. Precautions, in other words, themselves create risks – and hence the principle bans what it simultaneously requires.” Cass Sunstein (2008)

Policy on Biotechnology in the United States -- Policy formulation: Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology under the Executive Office of the President -- Environment Protection Agency, Food and Drug Agency, Dept. of Agriculture, National Institute for Health, National Science Foundation -- Burden of Proof – Applicant Information reviewed by regulatory authorities

What is the Role of U.S. Society? -- Open and transparent process for public comment (Federal Register) -- Civil Litigation Private citizens vs. Government (Alfalfa, Sugarbeets) Private citizens vs. citizens, corporations -- “Town Hall Meetings” by FDA -- Legislative Process and private citizen input

U.S. Policy and Regulation of Biotechnology -- Also Includes Concerns of Society -- Consistent with International Trade (WTO) -- A risk, science, societal continuum

Societal Concerns and the Precautionary Principle Precautionary Principle: Not enough science for Risk Assessment Societal Concerns: Risk Assessment and Cost/Benefit Analysis based on science cannot capture concerns of society anyway Where does that leave us?

Key Challenges: Meeting Future Food Needs, Adjusting to Climate Change, and Preserving the Environment

Where do we go from here? Governments: Responsibility for how risks are perceived by society – (Risk Communication for A/H1N1) Behavioral Economics - - The framing of the problem affects the outcome by the decision maker ( a member of society) Marketing, Advertising – Private Sector - consumers preferences routinely identified and quantified

Where do we go from here? How do we identify, quantify, and analyze Societal Concerns, as we do with other economic and trade issues? Can OECD CoAg provide guidance to governments on Societal Concerns? Does OECD have the competitive advantage to consider and develop analytical frameworks or policy guidance regarding Societal Concerns?

Thank You The End (or just another step?)

Additional Slides: Concerning the need for new Agronomic Technologies

Biotechnology helps reduce chemical input usage in U.S. corn production Source: USDA/NASS, Agricultural Chemical Usage Report Prepared by OGA/FAS/USDA Source: USDA/ERS

Poll of 1,000 toxicologists:

Precautionary Principle: Scope of Application? -- Biotechnology, Climate Change (2 cases, resulting in inaction and action) What about: second hand smoke, cellular telephones, airline safety, (airline pilot pay vs. investment banker pay), nuclear power, radon, environmental contaminants, etc.?

Why Biotechnology? Source: USDA NASS

Economic Benefits in Africa  On a much wider scale, there are about 2.5 million hectares planted to cotton in Africa, most on small plots of less than 10 ha. …If there was widespread use of Bt varieties across the continent, it could generate additional incomes of about six billion rand, or US$600 million, for some of the world’s poorest farmers.” (Colin T., L. Beyers, et.al., “Can GM-Technologies Help the Poor? The Impact of Bt Cotton in Makhathini Flats, KwaZulu-Natal”, World Development 31 (4)

Societal Concerns and the Precautionary Principle --Responsibility of governments to manage perception of risks (as in A/H1N1) --Ethical questions – Are “the few(1)” coercing the many(2), or “the few(2)” depriving the many(2)? The few(1) = the biotechnology industry The many(1) = consumers The few(2) = biotech spurning consumers in wealthy countries The many(1) = the 1 billion poverty stricken and malnourished