Book Description

. . . a compilation of 12 invaluable contributions on this issue by internationally known experts in their respective fields. . . a valuable resource for academic professionals, policy makers and legislators, advocacy groups and scholars in legal and development studies. It is a storehouse of learning and practical knowledge for anyone interested in environmental policy, biosafety issues, biotechnology processes and associated regulatory constraints. Marcelin Tonye Mahop, Review of European Community and International Environmental Law For bioethicists, legal scholars and regulators struggling with what controls to place on biotechnology, this is required reading. John Avellanet, Journal of Commercial Biotechnology Biotechnology has prompted a revolution in science and society in the truest sense of the word. For what superficially appears to be a revolution in biotechnology, in effect touches upon the fundamentals of life and the way in which humans relate to it. This book will make a significant contribution to the debate surrounding the effective regulation of biotechnology. The contributing authors assess how regulatory regimes can accommodate the many different and often conflicting issues to which biotechnology is giving rise to (including a very tainted public image). The book s ultimate aim is to explore ways of designing a regulatory regime that takes heed of these different demands whilst, at the same time, answering to the imperatives of effectiveness and efficiency. The book synthesizes three fields of legal analysis; the first focuses on the risk-dominated regulation of GM food and bio-agriculture; the second involves human genetics as a field dominated by considerations of ethics. Finally, patent law has been chosen as an area captured by notions of property. With its holistic approach, The Regulatory Challenge of Biotechnology will be of great interest to academics, policymakers and regulators as well as biotechnology and law students.