Open AccessLabelling Genetically Modified Food: The Right to Know
Author(s) -
Sand Peter H.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
review of european community & international environmental law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1467-9388
pISSN - 0962-8797
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9388.2006.00520.x
Subject(s) - convention on biological diversity , right to know , biosafety , convention , political science , settlement (finance) , genetically modified organism , curitiba , food security , business , international trade , law and economics , public administration , microbiology and biotechnology , public relations , law , economics , biology , finance , humanities , biodiversity , ecology , biochemistry , gene , payment , philosophy , agriculture
Genetically modified (‘bio‐engineered’ or ‘transgenic’) food has been at the centre of a transatlantic legal controversy for well over a decade – with the EU insisting on mandatory information disclosure to consumers and the USA resisting it. This article reviews recent developments in three global institutions dealing with the issue: the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (the 2006 Biotech Products Panel Report); the Biosafety Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity (the 2006 Curitiba Rules); and the Codex Alimentarius (the 2006 session of the Committee on Food Labelling). The focus of attention appears to be shifting, from initial concerns over risk communication towards a debate over democratic governance: ‘right‐to‐know’ versus ‘need‐to‐know’.