Regulating agricultural biotechnology under uncertainty

The regulatory environment for technology is currently undergoing profound changes. The most important factors behind those changes are social conflict and the growing perception among citizens of uncertainty with respect to modern technologies, like genetic engineering. A recent research project on the regulation and risk assessment of genetically modified organisms in the European Union provides data which allow to observe those changes for one country, Spain. The case study demonstrates the way in which the regulatory bodies and their decision making is being influenced by social demands, while at the same time regulation itself is adapting its underlying philosophy to some of those demands. In fact, the Spanish regulatory process adopted characteristics of an ex-ante regulation. In spite of the absence of public participation in regulatory decision making,. risk assessment implicitly took into account several concerns voiced by non-governmental organizations. The regulatory process assumed the function of transmitting this information to industry and the scientific community, trying to influence design decisions in relation to products in response to social demands. And it dynamically adapted its basic regulatory philosophy to the evolving social debate. On the other hand, a number of regulatory concepts, despite their being socially contested, continue to play an important role. Among them are the definition of risk and the role of experts. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.