Based on the first scientific conference convened at the Library of Alexandria, 'Biotechnology and Sustainable Development: Voices of the South and North', which was held in Alexandria, Egypt, in March 2002, this book contains overviews of agriculture, health, ethics and the environment. It discusses how dramatic improvements in food security, health, and lifestyle could accrue to the poor people of developing countries through the applications of new technologies.
Based on presentations, transcripts of round-table discussions and comments raised at the workshop, this book provides an overview of the field and of current regulatory frameworks and addresses the most pressing international policy considerations on xenotransplantation.
The recent advances in the field of biotechnology have brought into focus several ethical and safety issues. The inventions in the field of genetic engineering and related fields of molecular biology will affect not only ourselves but the plants, microorganisms, animals and the entire environment and the way we practice agriculture, medicine and food processing. An increase in our ability to change life forms in recent years has given rise to the new science of bioethics . While anti-biotechnology activists are over rating the risks of biotechnology, it is time for the scientists to make a scientific and objective analysis of the social issues involved, and make it known to the public who will, otherwise, be carried away by the emotional rhetoric by the less informed but highly vocal section of the society. The present book discusses the biosafety and bioethical issues the modern society confronts. Topics such as biotech development, impact of biotechnology on biosafety, biotech products and ethical issues, governance of biosafety, environmentally responsible use of biotechnology, etc., are describe in detail. This book is destined to become an essential reading for students, teachers and professionals in all fields of life sciences.
The transatlantic dispute over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has brought into conflict the United States and the European Union, two long-time allies and economically interdependent democracies with a long record of successful cooperation. Yet the dispute - pitting a largely acceptant US against an EU deeply suspicious of GMOs - has developed into one of the most bitter and intractable transatlantic and global conflicts, resisting efforts at negotiated resolution and resulting in a bitterly contested legal battle before the World Trade Organization. Professors Pollack and Shaffer investigate the obstacles to reconciling regulatory differences among nations through international cooperation, using the lens of the GMO dispute. The book addresses the dynamic interactions of domestic law and politics, transnational networks, international regimes, and global markets, through a theoretically grounded and empirically comprehensive analysis of the governance of GM foods and crops. They demonstrate that the deeply politicized, entrenched and path-dependent nature of the regulation of GMOs in the US and the EU has fundamentally shaped negotiations and decision-making at the international level, limiting the prospects for deliberation and providing incentives for both sides to engage in hard bargaining and to "shop" for favorable international forums. They then assess the impacts, and the limits, of international pressures on domestic US and European law, politics and business practice, which have remained strikingly resistant to change. International cooperation in areas like GMO regulation, the authors conclude, must overcome multiple obstacles, legal and political, domestic and international. Any effective response to this persistent dispute, they argue, must recognize both the obstacles to successful cooperation, and the options that remain for each side when cooperation fails.
The book reveals, for the first time, the origins, growth and complex role of the OECD as it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, showing how it has adapted for the most part successfully to the changing needs of its members, both large and small. Peter Carroll and Aynsley Kellow provide a comprehensive account and analysis of the origins, development and, most intriguingly, the recent reforms that characterise the OECD. They argue that this increasingly complex organisation has fulfilled its design to be an adaptive, learning organisation and explore how the OECD has spread its wings beyond its European and North American roots to become an increasingly influential body in global governance. Topical chapters include the OECD s work on health and the environment, relations with international, intergovernmental organisations, the OECD s structure and also the key processes. This fascinating book will be warmly welcomed by academics, researchers and postgraduate students in a wide range of fields including international relations, international business, political science, public policy and public administration. Public servants in national departments and agencies particularly those with significant international activities will also find the book to be of great interest, as will professionals within international organisations such as IMF, World Bank, EU, UN and (of course) the OECD itself.
Conventions, Treaties and other Responses to Global Issues is a component of Encyclopedia of Institutional and Infrastructural Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. This theme Conventions, Treaties and other Responses to Global Issues deals with the issue of international resource regimes. These are formal responses by states to the threats posed by trans-boundary pollution or the distribution of resources. In the past thirty years the number of international environmental agreements has steadily risen to reach record numbers and these agreements have secured a firm place in the hierarchy of international affairs. There is a loose assumption that this is a good thing and that this rise has resulted in a commensurable improvement in environmental protection and resource allocation. But is this actually the case? In fact, is there a positive correlation at all? Or are there negative correlations? What are the connections between environmental diplomacy and environmental protection and how can environmental protection be achieved? These are just a few of the questions that will be addressed in this theme, whilst at the same time giving an overview of the most important international resource regimes and the most influential international organizations having an environmental impact. The theme takes the following shape: the first section introduces issues of international environmental law and its history, showing that international law can take many different forms. Here we explain what policy tools states have in drafting responses to global environmental issues. The second section deals with the most prominent international environmental agreements and gives a state of the art overview of existing regimes. The third and last section of this theme introduces the key actors in the international arena besides states, such as international organizations and civil society actors, such as pressure groups. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.
This book analyses the importance of maize worldwide and the special importance for Mexico as a centre of origin and diversity (COD). By adopting a comparative approach, the analysis focuses on how developed and developing countries handle imports of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO & rsquo;s). It also analyses the impact that GM maize imports from the USA may have in Mexico as COD of maize. This book illustrates the process of economic liberalization in Mexico from the 1980 & rsquo;s until the inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. It provides a descriptive and analytical insight into the Mexican legal framework of biotechnology and biosafety. Finally, it outlines the problems of complying with both environmental, and trade commitments.
This is the third volume of the five-volume book series “Engineering Tools for Environmental Risk Management”. The book series deals with the following topics: • Environmental deterioration and pollution, management of environmental problems • Environmental toxicology – a tool for managing chemical substances and contaminated environment • Assessment and monitoring tools, risk assessment • Risk reduction measures and technologies • Case studies for demonstration of the application of engineering tools The authors aim to describe interactions and options in risk management by providing a broad scientific overview of the environment, its human uses and the associated local, regional and global environmental problems; interpreting the holistic approach used in solving environmental protection issues; striking a balance between nature’s needs and engineering capabilities; understanding interactions between regulation, management and engineering; obtaining information about novel technologies and innovative engineering tools. This third volume provides an overview on the basic principles, concepts, practices and tools of environmental monitoring and contaminated site assessment. The volume focuses on those engineering tools that enable integrated site assessment and decision making and ensure an efficient control of the environment. Some topics supporting sustainable land use and efficient environmental management are listed below: • Efficient management and regulation of contaminated land and the environment; • Early warning and environmental monitoring; • Assessment of contaminated land: the best practices; • Environmental sampling; • Risk characterization and contaminated matrix assessment; • Integrated application of physical, chemical, biological, ecological and (eco) toxicological characterization methods; • Direct toxicity assessment (DTA) and decision making; • Online analyzers, electrodes and biosensors for assessment and monitoring of waters.; • In situ and real-time measurement tools for soil and contaminated sites; • Rapid on-site methods and contaminant and toxicity assessment kits; • Engineering tools from omics technologies, microsensors to heavy machinery; • Dynamic characterization of subsurface soil and groundwater using membrane interface probes, optical and X-ray fl uorescence and ELCAD wastewater characterization; • Geochemical modeling: methods and applications; • Environmental assessment using cyclodextrins. This book series focuses on the state of knowledge about the environment and its conscious and structured application in environmental engineering, management and decision making.
