The Importance and Limits of Cost-Benefit Analysis in the Regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms

Abstract

Abstract Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is an attempt to estimate a monetary value for environmental or public health degradation. In a regulatory context, it should be seen as a complementary tool to risk assessment for the purposes of public decision-making. CBA should, therefore, be particularly relevant in the governance of modern biotechnology. GMOs, however, provide a ‘textbook case’ of the complexity which results from any attempt to conduct CBA in relation to innovation, this being a function of their novelty, the ethical concerns which they raise, their economic importance, the danger of potentially irreversible effects on biodiversity, the absence of scientific unanimity in risk assessment, and consumer fear. This chapter underlines the importance of CBA in the regulation of GMOs and highlights the specific difficulties with which such analysis is confronted. It argues that these difficulties should not be considered as a reason to dispense with economic evaluation.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199542482.003.0003

Journal

The Regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms: Comparative Approaches

Year

2010