Exploring the links between science, risk, uncertainty, and ethics in regulatory controversies about genetically modified crops

Just as a stream of genetically modified crops looked set to be approved fo r commercial production in the European Union, the approval procedure appea rs to have become bogged down once again by disagreements among and within member states. Old controversies have resurfaced in new forms. The intracta bility of the issues suggests that the regulatory procedure has had too nar row a focus, leaving outside its boundary many of the more fundamental aspe cts that cause people in the European Union most concern. Regulators have c ome under considerable pressure to ensure their risk assessment decisions a re soundly science-based. Ethical issues have been deemed to lie beyond the scope of the regulatory procedure, as a matter to be considered separately by professional ethicists. Yet it has been suggested that all environmenta l controversies at root involve disputes about fundamental ethical principl es. This paper examines how the ethical issues are currently suppressed or sidelined. It discusses how an appreciation of systems thinking and a check on the values that underpin decisions, using boundary testing questions, m ight contribute to a more constructive regulatory dialogue, with ethical is sues considered as integral in a way that rakes better account of people's concerns.