GMO is, among other uses, a technology that may enable us to better utilize natural sources (both in agriculture and in industry, tec.). However, its practical utilization is strictly controlled, almost hampered at some points. Can you envision any changes (advances, liberalization) in that control, when our societies face the challenges brought about by climate change effects?
Dear Lucie,
I do not expect that the GMO industry will bring about much change in the context of climate change, or any other unexpected event such as the current Covid-19 pandemic. The mechanistic and linear logic of GMO technologies impedes a more holistic epistemology where complexity and (often) unpredictability rule. Biotechnologies in the agricultural sciences will continue to scout for valuable genes, or even produce them directly from molecules to resolve specific problems such as: making crops more resistant to droughts, increased salinity, loss of soil fertility, etc. The promise of a cleaner agriculture (less use of agrichemicals) when Bt and HR seed became available in the late 1980s failed miserably and more misery was brought to millions of subsistence farming in countries of the developing world. The on-going rethoric which praises GMO development and use (in my opinion) is solely maintained by the lucrative gains of companies and investors who want to remain oblivious to maintaining a ruthless, extractive paradigm in modern, industrial agriculture.
I do not expect in GMO regulation in the context of climate change .
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