Dear all
Is there an ethical issue in a 'right' not to have your farm 'contaminated'
by genes you do not approve of? I am thinking of the organic farmers and I
have sympathy with that point of view but I am not sure it is defensible.
Nature itself is perfectly capable of flinging pollen around without regard
to fences.
The only parallel I can think of is that of breeders of thouroughbred dogs
who might have rights that prevent passing strangers letting their rampant
mutts loose to go splashing about in the purified gene pool.
In those cases they might be lucky and get a restraining order placed on
the offender but would that be legitimate if, in the case of GM, the vector
of 'contamination' is effectively uncontrollable (pollen). If it is
ligitimate and it were possible to sue a neighbour for genetic
contamination might it not backfire on the organic farmers (in my example)
who themselves might be sued if their strains cross pollinate the GM crops
next door. (That the the coss pollination of the GM crops does not overly
concern the GM seed suppliers does not I think undermine the principle
here). Do ethics not require this equallity of justice as between Organic
and GM farmers?
I am sure that readers of this list will be able to tell us if there are
precedents in the industrial/environmental world were two adjacent
manufacturers were in conflict over each other's pollutants. Does this
tells us anything? It might be easier to resolve such a dispute by
prohibiting both (equally) from offensive discharges. It would not however
be feasible to institute a general prohibition on the discharge of pollen.
Should we wish to escape this bind we would need to establish that the
equlity principle does not apply because GM farmers and Organic farmers
can be viewed differently both ethically and under the law.
Does growing something intrinsically unontrollable remove the
responsibility for controlling it? If I raised tigers in my back garden I
suspect that I might be required to take ' all reasonable measures' to
protect my neighbours' sheep. What might reasonable measures against
pollen be?
Regards
Paul K
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