tailieunhanh - Agricultural Biotechnology and Organic Agriculture: National Organic Standards and Labeling of GM Products

Recent literature shows that much has been learned about the effects of diffusion, dispersion, advection and adsorption on chemical transport in soils (van Genuchten & Wierenga, 1976; Goltz & Roberts, 1988; Ptacek & Gillham, 1992). Numerous models have been developed in attempts to describe the one-dimensional transport of chemicals. These models are important because they continuously increase insight into the basic transport mechanisms involved and, consequently, improve the capability to predict the fate in the soils of such diverse chemicals as pesticides, chlorinated hydrocarbons and heavy metals. . | AgBioForum 9 2 84-93. 2006 AgBioForum. Agricultural Biotechnology and Organic Agriculture National Organic Standards and Labeling of GM Products Konstantinos Giannakas and Amalia Yiannaka University of Nebraska-Lincoln The National Organic Program introduced in 2002 has explicitly linked the markets for organic and genetically modified GM products through the provision that organic-labeled food should be free of GM ingredients. This paper models the demand links between the organic GM and conventional products and analyzes the market and welfare effects of the introduction of labels for products of biotechnology under the new organic standards. Key words agricultural biotechnology genetically modified products mandatory labeling national organic standards organic agriculture. The introduction of genetically modified products GMPs into the food system and the significant growth of organic agriculture are among the most notable features of the increasingly industrialized agri-food sector. They have both received considerable attention in the economics literature with the main focus being on the optimal regulatory responses as they relate to the introduction of standards for and labeling of genetically modified GM and organic food products. Labeling of GMPs has been a contentious issue sparking an ongoing international debate among parties holding significantly different views on the need for regulation of products of biotechnology. Whereas the United States has argued the substantial equivalence of first-generation GMPs to their conventional counterparts and has been opposing the labeling of such products the European Union advocates mandatory labeling of GMPs based on its precautionary principle and a vocal consumer opposition rooted in concerns about the health and environmental effects of products of Regarding the organic sector the process of establishing national standards for organic food in the United States generated a significant public .