Thomas Reydon
The Ethics of Agricultural Biotechnology and Food
Public discussions on the topic of biotechnology are focused on a variety of issues. These include general moral questions regarding how we should treat our fellow humans, non-human living beings, and nature more generally, as well as more specific issues that arise with respect to particular technologies and applications. In the case of plant biotechnology, for example, typical questions regard the risks of outcrossing between genetically modified and wild-type plants, the risks for consumers of products based on genetically modified plants, animals, or microbes, the acceptability of patenting of DNA sequences or genetically modified organisms, and estimates of possible advantages and disadvantages of applying genetic technologies to plants in the production of food and feed. In the case of animal biotechnology, questions are focused more on the well-being of animals subjected to biotechnology. In this course, we will look at a variety of such questions with an emphasis on applications of bio-technology in agriculture. In addition, we will explore issues in food ethics.