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| Authors: | David G. Victor, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Science and Technology C. Ford Runge |
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Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations
Release Date: April 14, 2002
60 pages
ISBN 0-87609-312-8
$10.00
Offering a pragmatic, long-term strategy for managing the gene revolution, this study concludes that genetically modified (GM) foods could help improve the quality of life in developing countries. The authors warn, however, that this important innovation is at risk of being derailed by current U.S.-European Union (EU) trade disputes.
This report outlines a strategy based on active policy reforms rather than the current laissez-faire approach. The benefits of crop engineering must be directed to those who have most to gain: the two billion farmers and rural poor in developing countries who could meet food demands while reducing adverse environmental impacts. Breakthroughs in GM technology must be shared by the private and public sectors, allowing economic rewards for innovation but spreading benefits as widely as possible. Governments must take care to ensure that the trade conflicts between the United States and the EU over GM products do not escalate out of control. The authors outline a strategy for managing this conflict and implore the U.S. trade representative not to launch a formal dispute in the World Trade Organization that, once unleashed, will be hard to tame.
David G. Victor is adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University.
C. Ford Runge is a professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota.
Study Group Members:
BOB ANDERSON, U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Standards Board
WILLIS ANTHONY, Anthony Farms, Inc.
JESSE H. AUSUBEL, Rockefeller University
THOMAS C. BEIERLE, Resources for the Future
ANDREW CASH, UBS Warburg
JUDITH CHAMBERS, Monsanto
JOEL E. COHEN, Rockefeller University
JOEL I. COHEN, International Service of National Agricultural Research
RAFFAELLA CRISTANETTI, Dupont
SAM DRYDEN, Emergent Genetics, Inc.
RUBEN ECHEVERRIA, Inter-American Development Bank
CATHY ENRIGHT, U.S. Department Agriculture
RICHARD L. FEIGEN
MYRA M. FRAZIER, Environmental Protection Agency
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
RICHARD L. GARWIN, Council on Foreign Relations
LAWRENCE K. GERSHWIN, National Intelligence Council
RICHARD GILMORE, GIC Group
MARIANNE GINSBURG, German Marshall Fund of the United States
REBECCA J. GOLDBURG, Environmental Defense Fund
JOHN HAAPALA, Oregon Tilth, Inc.
PHILLIP HENDERSON, German Marshall Fund of the United States
ALEXIA HERWIG, New York University
THOMAS R. JACOB, DuPont
GREG JAFFE, Center for Science in the Public Interest
ROBBIN S. JOHNSON, Cargill, Inc.
KENNETH H. KELLER, University of Minnesota
JENNIFER KUZMA, National Academy of Sciences
HEATHER LAIR, Meridian Institute
HERBERT LEVIN, America-China Forum
MARC LEVINSON, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
JONATHAN MALKIN, ATP Capital LP
FELIPE MARDONES, University of Minnesota
JOHN J. MOORE JR., Morgan Stanley & Co.
JULIA A. MOORE, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
PETER MORICI, Economic Strategy Institute
PAT W. NASH JR., U.S. Naval Academy
RODNEY W. NICHOLS, New York Academy of Sciences
LARA PALEVITZ, UBS Warburg
SANDRA PANEM, Cross Atlantic Partners, Inc.
LARA PAPI, Council for Biotechnology Information
SEEMIN PASHA, Council for Biotechnology Information
STEWART M. PATRICK, New York University
ROBERT PINGEON, Mestre Associates
CHANNAPATNA S. PRAKASH, Tuskegee University
DANIEL P. PUZO, Edelman Public Relations Worldwide
SUSAN SECHLER, Rockefeller Foundation
SOROUSH RICHARD SHEHABI, U.S. Department of Justice
ANNE SHUSTERMAN, Emergent Genetics, Inc.
ALLISON SNOW, Ohio State University
CORRINA STEWARD, Meridian Institute
GORDON C. STEWART, Insurance Information Institute
RICHARD STEWART, New York University
AUSTIN SULLIVAN, General Mills, Inc.
DAVID H. SWANSON, Explorer Nutrition & Fiber Group
LINDA WIESSLER-HUGHES, National Intelligence Council
CATHERINE E. WOTEKI, U.S. Department of Agriculture
MICHAEL YUDELL, American Museum of Natural History
NORTON D. ZINDER, Rockefeller University
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