TY - GEN

T1 - Ethical distinctions between different kinds of plant breeding

AU - Myskja, B.K.

AU - Schouten, H.J.

AU - Gjerris, Mickey

N1 - Conference code: 12

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - The article discusses whether there are ethically significant distinctions between different forms of plant breeding. We distinguish different forms of plant breeding according to the kind of technology and degree of human intervention compared to plant reproduction occurring in nature. According to the dominant scientific view, the main concerns are issues of biosafety that are dealt with through risk assessment. Thus, the techniques are ethically equivalent and only the resulting product is of interest. In parts of the societal and philosophical discourse, however, there are attempts to distinguish ethically between these approaches, often relying on ambiguous concepts such as ‘naturalness’. We argue that a virtue-based approach can be used to explicate the assumptions behind such distinctions that are relevant for scientific and public discourse, and support a conclusion that there are ethical differences between plant breeding methods. The framework can contribute to an improved dialogue between the scientific community and the wider public by making the scepticism towards GM-technology more intelligible.

AB - The article discusses whether there are ethically significant distinctions between different forms of plant breeding. We distinguish different forms of plant breeding according to the kind of technology and degree of human intervention compared to plant reproduction occurring in nature. According to the dominant scientific view, the main concerns are issues of biosafety that are dealt with through risk assessment. Thus, the techniques are ethically equivalent and only the resulting product is of interest. In parts of the societal and philosophical discourse, however, there are attempts to distinguish ethically between these approaches, often relying on ambiguous concepts such as ‘naturalness’. We argue that a virtue-based approach can be used to explicate the assumptions behind such distinctions that are relevant for scientific and public discourse, and support a conclusion that there are ethical differences between plant breeding methods. The framework can contribute to an improved dialogue between the scientific community and the wider public by making the scepticism towards GM-technology more intelligible.

U2 - 10.3920/978-90-8686-813-1_13

DO - 10.3920/978-90-8686-813-1_13

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 978-90-8686-264-1

VL - 1

SP - 95

EP - 100

BT - Know your food

A2 - Dumitras, Diana Elena

A2 - Mugurel Jitea, Ionel

A2 - Aerts, Stef

PB - Wageningen Academic Publishers

CY - Wageningen

T2 - 12th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics

Y2 - 28 May 2015 through 30 May 2015

ER -