Environmentalism
Environmentalists assess genetic modification of crops, livestock, and potentially human beings with close attention to their effects on ecosystems and societies. They advocate for caution and responsible social governance in the face of high-risk technological innovation, including by regulating markets and corporations in order to ensure public health and well-being. Environmentalists pioneered the precautionary principle, an approach that assigns responsibility for demonstrating the safety of risky new technologies to those who would benefit from them, rather than those likely to be harmed. These tools of technical, policy, and social analysis hold important insights for understanding and evaluating human biotechnologies.
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Gene editing causes drastic unwanted effects in gene-edited plants including severe deformities, a new...
Bill McKibben and john a. powell came discuss the “Climate Crisis, Designer Babies, and Our Common Future.” The event was moderated by Osagie K. Obasogie, Professor of Bioethics at UC Berkeley.
This webcast explores the new techniques of synthetic biology and gene editing, and their capacity to redesign nature, from seeds to insects to people.
The technologies are being rapidly developed and robustly funded, in most cases well ahead of safety assessments, public engagement, and social oversight. What does this mean for people and the planet – and what can we do about it?
- Dana Perls, Friends of the Earth
- Ricarda Steinbrecher, EcoNexus
- Jaydee Hanson, Center for Food Safety
- Pete Shanks, Center for Genetics and Society
Moderated by Marcy Darnovsky, Center for Genetics and Society
If you were unable to join us, or would like to see the webcast again, click below to watch the event in its entirety.
You can find written replies to some of the questions and comments that were submitted by participants here.